Brian Kinchen might be the only person who has a BCS Championship Ring and a Super Bowl from the same calendar year.

The former LSU and NFL tight end/long snapper was working with the LSU long snappers and doing some film breakdown for then-LSU coach Nick Saban in 2003 when, out of the blue, he got a call from the New England Patriots to be their long snapper for the playoff run.

Kinchen wound up earning a Super Bowl ring as a the long-snapper in Super Bowl XXXVII (otherwise remembered as the "Janet Jackson Super Bowl") and because of his work with the LSU program that year, Saban allowed him to buy an LSU National Championship ring, even though Kinchen was not able to attend the championship game between LSU and Oklahoma because of the NFL playoffs.

His story of that 2003 season is told in a recent book by Jeffrey Marx, "The Long Snapper.''

Kinchen had played for Pats' head coach Bill Belichick when Belichick was head coach of the Cleveland Browns, with a defensive coordinator by the name of Saban.

"Nick loves having old players around, and (after retiring from the NFL) I just wanted to have a team to be a part of, so when he got the LSU job, he let me hang out, breaking down film and stuff,'' Kinchen told me last week. "I was there about one day a week.''

But Kinchen did offer his insights into Saban, with a comparison to the Patriots' Belichick.

"Nick is the same as Bill,'' Kinchen said. "They're one in the same. They both have great personalities but nobody sees it. It's a shame. But that's the way the job shapes them. ... It's hard, but they've always got to be focused on what they're trying to get done, what they're trying to accomplish.

"I remember doing an interview with ESPN the week before the Super Bowl where I said there is so much more to Bill but the problem is he can't let it out because he's built up this facade he has to uphold. Because of that, the real Bill becomes impossible to see. And the morning of the (Super Bowl) game, I was walking out of the lockerroom and (Belichicks' former wife) Debbie sees me and said, 'you couldn't have put it much better.'''

Kinchen was asked what he believes makes Saban successful.

"It's respect,'' Kinchen said. "I was reading an article about (movie director) Steven Soderburgh ("Ocean's Eleven") and the way he directs, and he said, 'There is a definite chain of command when you're making a movie, but not a chain of respect.
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"The way Nick operates is, he's a guy who might not ask how you're doing today, and not give you a smile, but he respects you. He respects you. And he's definitely the kind of coach I'd try to emulate.''

To Saban, and Belichick, the game is really simple, said Kinchen.

"Details, details, details,'' he said. "Fundamentals. And the by-product is winning. Most coaches want to win and try to figure out how to do it. That's the exact opposite of the type of coach Bill and Nick are. They teach from the ground up, and all the success comes as a by-product of doing it the right way. It's really simple.

"People think it's hard. But Nick and Bill would probably laugh at that. It's not that difficult. Do it the right way, get the kids to believe, and it's not hard at all.

"Try not to complicate things. Focus on the little things. So many coaches get consumed with systems and schemes and trying to figure out how to beat the opponent, they forget about fundamentals, the little things that make a team disciplined. And in the end, that's what you want - a team that pays attention to every little detail, from the way they break the huddle to the way they hold their helmets to the way they line up to stretch. And that all comes from the guy calling the shots. Nick's a detail guy, and he does it in a way that kids understand he's not doing it just to be sucessful, he's doing it because he wants them to be successful.

"He's not a glad-hander. He won't tell them they're doing a great job. But they respect him because they know he cares. Kids know a pretender, and Nick is not a pretender, and they respond to that.''

Kinchen on Saban leaving LSU:
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"We had a conversation the day he announced he was leaving to go to Miami (Dolphins),'' Kinchen said. "I came to his house. He was in his bedroom slippers and pajamas and we talked. He said, 'I couldn't say no to the guy. He kept coming back and coming back and he made it impossible for me to say no.' And I understood why Nick left (LSU).

"I remember when he took the Alabama job and everyone was calling him a liar. It upset me. I know he's not a liar. I know what he experienced and the regrets. I know if he could do it again, he'd never have left LSU.''

And his advice to Saban?

"I"m not 'Yoda;' I'm not his mentor,'' Kinchen said. "But my only thing I suggested was he make sure he didn't have people in place who always tell him 'yes,' that he has people who challenge him. Otherwise poor decisions get passed by and no one catches them. ... Bill Belichick is succesful in New England because he had a guy like (former Pats' VP now with the Kansas City Chiefs) Scott Pioli, who would challenge Bill and stand up for what he believed. And Bill would listen eventually, because Scott had proven himself.

"That's what I would remind Nick.''

Kinchen, whose father, uncle and brother all played at LSU and whose son, Austin, is a walk-on linebacker and long snapper, lives and teaches school in Baton Rouge.
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