Tony’s take: Enough already with the Bama Standard

The Bama Standard isn’t that special. 

Sorry if that was blunt, I just needed something to break through the cloud of coachspeak circulating through the Mal Moore Athletic Complex these days. 

Now that I have your attention, allow me to start again. The Bama Standard isn’t some secret manuscript. It isn’t a Holy Grail buried in the wood paneling from when Kalen DeBoer turned Nick Saban’s old office into a Capital One Café. And it’s not going to magically transform Alabama into a playoff contender. 

So, can we please stop bringing it up every time things don’t go the Tide’s way? 

What even is the Bama Standard? And don’t tell me it’s 18 national championships, 30 SEC titles and whatever other shiny accolades Alabama has in its illustrious trophy case. That’s Bama History.

What is the Bama Standard? Can you define it? More importantly, can the Alabama players?

I asked them. 

“The Bama Standard to me is just being excellent,” redshirt sophomore Qua Russa said. “Just winning your job, winning your one-on-ones, dominating your box, just not worrying about the next opponent. And it’s not just football, it’s off the field, too.”

Russaw is a Montgomery native. How about someone who didn’t grow up following the Crimson Tide? 

“Commitment, discipline, toughness, pride,” wide receiver Germie Bernard said when asked for a definition of the Bama Standard this week. “Just playing hard. Coming out here, playing relentless and consistent each and every play, showing tremendous effort, toughness. Like I said, toughness is one of the big key factors, and pride.” 

Sign me up for that. What team wouldn’t want those traits? 

And that’s my point. This is Benard’s third team. Is the Bama Standard different than the Washington Standard or the Michigan State Standard? 

Sure, Alabama wins more, but is the desired standard any different at other programs? 

“I mean, I feel like everybody harps on playing hard and what not,” Benard said when asked. “It’s a lot of history in this school. It’s a lot of guys that came and showed what it’s going to take and what the standard is.” 

Once again, there’s a difference between Bama Standard and Bama History. There isn’t a program in America that wouldn’t swap trophy cases with Alabama. However, every team has roughly the same desired standard. 

Everyone wants to win. Alabama just did a better job of it. 

Saban’s famous philosophy,  “The Process,” isn’t some out-of-the-box concept. Not taking away anything from the greatest to ever do it, but he isn’t the first one to prioritize consistent hard work and attention to detail over fixating on outcomes. 

That’s like me coming up with an original weight-loss plan based on eating healthy and working out. I guarantee it works if you execute it. I just haven’t mastered that part yet.  

That’s where we are with all of this. 

Saban didn’t create a secret formula, and the Bama Standard isn’t different than the goals of nearly every program in college football. 

Ohio State won the national championship last season because it played up to the Ohio State Standard. 

Michigan won the year before because it cheated and stole signs from its opponents… and because it played up to the Michigan Standard. 

Kirby Smart got Georgia to play up to its standard for back-to-back seasons before that and came away with a pair of titles because of it. 

Alabama’s success under Saban had more to do with the Bama Execution than it did with the Bama Standard. Entering Week 2 with its first losing record in 19 years, the Tide should be searching for the former to turn its season around. 

You won’t find that through coachspeak and positive vibes, though. 

DeBoer’s process might differ from Saban’s, and that’s OK. Recent history has shown that Alabama doesn’t own the only road map to success. Maybe that leads to a new, slightly different Bama Standard. That’s OK, too. 

Alabama needs to find an ethos and standard that works. More importantly, it needs to execute under it. That’s what this program is missing at the moment.