The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 814

The Palm Beach Post SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2004 PalmBeachPost.com lJJjM A look at the area's top football players and the Lu Li -j mentors who have guided them. Pages 9B-12B The LSU coach receives virtually complete authority over rebuilding the franchise. IT -t'" 1 Eo) ZlKzJ Big deal: Saban gets a five-year contract at about $5 million per year. Story, 1A Players react: Some are disappointed that Jim Bates gets passed over. 6B Saban's stops: His record shows that he turns teams into big winners.

6B Don't think for an instant that the higher-ups composing the higher-archy of the hierarchy of the Miami Dolphins Football Team Inc. aren't in pose of grand thanksgiving right about now. Nick Saban is coming. In a season gone monotonously, maddeningly, miserably wrong from Dan Marino to Ricky Williams to a dysfunctional coaching staff to injuries to off-the-field transgressions to Dave Wann- stedt to 3-11 here comes someone right Oh, how the Dolphins hope it's true. Oh, how they hope it's bunches of millions of dollars worth of true.

Oh, how they hope Saban's name eventually is Ring of Honor great Greg Stoda 9 Because, oh, how they hope he's their coach long enough and successfully enough that he never wants to coach anywhere else when he does walk away more than a decade and a Super Bowl title or two from now. It's naive to think about this hire in lesser terms. "I have a lot of respect and gratitude for everybody who has been interested in me through the years," Saban, 53, said Saturday night in Orlando after teasing and torturing the Dolphins for a couple of days with offer in hand before agreeing to a contract in principle. "I just felt like this opportunity, with this organization, was one of the best that's ever been presented to me in terms of how you can control your destiny in the organization, the commitment the organization has to winning and the tradition that they have in winning." Saban takes charge of a Miami franchise in as See STODA, 6B Hiring Saban bold and appropriate So it's Nick Saban, at long last Now what? Something new, that's the answer. Something entirely different Fresh thinking from outside the strategic box that Jimmy Johnson built and then passed down to Dave Wannstedt An altered riff PHELAN M.

EBN HACK, The Associated Press eye on player evaluation, too, as orchestrated by someone other Nick Saban's to-do list 1 than Rick Spielman. 1 Jt Change can be scary at f5n times, but in this case it was the absence of leadership change that represented the true terror in the Miami Dolphins' 3-11 season. Saban switches the voltage, if nothing else. His hiring dem Dave George Hire the right assistant coaches. One of Steve Spurrier's mistakes was hiring too many coaches without NFL experience.

Naming Jim Bates defensive coordinatorassistant coach would be a great place to start Finding an offensive coordinator with NFL experience is a primary objective. Hire the right personnel man. Belichick has Scott Pioli. Saban needs a personnel whiz who doesn't mind taking a back seat when it comes to credit Maybe that's Baltimore's Phil Savage. Maybe that's Atlanta's Tim Ruskell.

Maybe that's Tennessee's Floyd Reese. Establish himself as Miami's leader. Dolphins President Eddie Jones believes the most important quality in a head coach is his ability to lead. Saban, overcoming a lack of charisma with intensity, quickly convinced every person in Baton Rouge that he was that person. He must gain the respect of Miami's veterans.

Make tough salary-cap decisions. Some Dolphins are aging and nobody will be spared from Saban's evaluation, including Zach Thomas, Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain, Reggie Howard, Arturo Freeman, Rob Konrad and Olindo Mare. Like New England's Bill Belichick, Saban won't be afraid to cut anybody. Just win, baby. Don Shula doesn't believe there's any reason this franchise should have a down cycle.

Well, it's in one. Miami hasn't won a playoff game in four seasons. Among those never to experience a Dolphins' playoff win: Ricky Williams, Junior Seau and Chris Chambers. onstrates that Wayne Huizenga is truly determined to pull the franchise out of its rut even if it carries the risk of falling into another one. All of this is unfamiliar, the selection of a college head coach to do major renovations on an organization that was built and braced and personally maintained for 26 seasons by Don Shula, the prototype pro.

All of this is awkward, coming at a time when Saban is concentrating in large part on beating the Iowa Hawkeyes rather than organizing a Dolphins staff. All of this is sudden, in a way, because it See GEORGE, 6B HEAT 104, LAKERS 102 (OT) ore than Duvpen The stars compete but don't connect mr II eat wools thriller LOS ANGELES The Staples Center gawkers ran the gamut from Mr. and Mrs. David Arquette to Renee Zellweger. Of course the stars came out for the Heat vs.

Soap opera gives way to drama; Miami extends its streak. Head to head the Lakers on Saturday. Who better to appreci- I ate the holiday diversion rr that was Shaquille O'Neal vs. Kobe Bryant than the 1 denizens of Hollywood, where there'd be no heat at i Statistics for Shaquille O'Neal i -1 i ti ana ruue Drydiu in wen nisi i meeting since O'Neal was 1 traded to the Heat Karen rouse generated by massive egos colliding? Shaa Kobe By CHRIS PERKINS Palm Beach Post Staff Writer LOS ANGELES There was no way Saturday's game between the Heat and Los Angeles Lakers was going to justify the pre-game hype. And that turned out to be a good thing.

The hype was all about the petty, bitter Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant soap opera; the game turned out to be about NBA basketball, and fans hoping to see that had to be thrilled with this holiday extravaganza. When it was over, Miami had taken a step toward developing some championship mettle as it outlasted Bryant and the Lakers 104-102 in overtime at the sold-out Staples Center. The game ended with Bryant, See HEAT, 15B 1 1 Nicole Kidman was there, too. Her presence was perfect. Not since Kidman and Tom Cruise attended the Southern California premiere of The Others a movie that Kidman starred in and Cruise produced the night before their 2001 divorce became final had this city so closely scrutinized the interaction of two stars.

Some 19,000 necks craned when O'Neal and Bryant made their way to center court for the opening tip. Their interplay consist- See CR0USE, 14B Minutes 39 50 FG 11-19 12-30 FT 2-7 13-13 Rebounds 11 3 Assists 3 6 Blocks 3 0 Fouls 6 4 Turnovers 1 9 Points 24 42 i i MATT SAYUESThe Associated Press Kobe Bryant drives on his nemesis, Shaquille O'Neal, with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter. O'Neal fouled out on the play. Incirlp From pre-game show to Lamar Odom scores 24 iijjuc endi ABC does we( 14B aganst exteammateSi 15B.