Thursday nights in the fall are an opportunity for Alabama football fans to get a glimpse at a loose Nick Saban. Every season, segments on Saban’s Hey Coach show are not fully scripted.
It is a mistake to think a sometimes more relaxed Saban is unguarded. In public settings his default position is to be on guard, ever mindful of the power of words. Some of his public utterances are designed messages to his team. He is a skillful communicator and, as most who are, a chasm away from guileless. But at times, Nick Saban, the man, as much as the football coach comes through on the show.
Thursday night was particularly interesting for insights and perspectives Saban shared. Some had little to do with football.
He talked about Texas A&M, saying they might be somewhat “humiliated” after two losses and dangerous like a “wounded animal.” As always he praised the opponent’s strengths. He said Saturday night is a dangerous game and ” a kind of a trap game.”
When asked by Lauren Sisler, how he was doing, Saban talked about the team for a few minutes and then said if Lauren was asking about him,
"if you’re asking how I’m doing, I really don’t do have a lot to do other than be with the team, there really is no otherwise."
Later in the show, in response to, had he been in contact with Jimbo Fisher, his answer was revealing,
"I don’t chat with anybody. I really don’t. I don’t talk to people during the course of the week. I mean, Miss Terry if I’m lucky. I don’t see anybody except our staff. We work. I don’t have a lot of time to say, I’m going to call my buddy and see what he’s doing.… most people that know you kind of know that you’re focused on what you’re doing so they don’t call you. There’s a couple people out there, that I wish would call me every now and then, and they don’t. I don’t talk to hardly anybody. Not just coaches. I just don’t talk to anybody,"
If Saban was not so driven by the unattainable pursuit of perfection, he might have time for more interaction with others. Every Alabama football fan is now dying to know who are those couple of people Nick would like to hear from.
Alabama Football and being ‘grounded’
There is so much glamour with being a big-time coach and even more in being the greatest college football coach of all time. Nick Saban though, is so fundamentally grounded, he does not get swept up in or swept away by the distractions. In addition, he is blessed to have the anchoring effect of Miss Terry.
An aside – “well-grounded” is a description Saban used when he talked Thursday night about Bryce Young.
Speaking philosophically about people who are no longer alive and taking things for granted (specifically Elvis Presley and Fuller Goldsmith, the young man from Tuscaloosa who passed away earlier in the week), Saban said,
"You are a speck in time situated between the past and future."
In a sports world often filled with coach-speak, Nick Saban is sometimes refreshingly candid. He was that Thursday night, as he shared a few words of wisdom.
The main, Saban portion of the show can be seen below.
Saban was also calm Thursday night. When asked an inane question about tailgates and concession items, he explained he has no experience with either.