Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Alabama, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other universities: Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Toledo. His eight-year contract totaling US$32 million made him one of the highest paid football coaches, professional or collegiate, in the United States at the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth31 October 1951
CityFairmont, WV
CountryUnited States of America
Philosophically, I don't there's a lot of difference in terms of what we like to do. His knowledge of the league and being able to define things internally in the organization, so you have everybody on the same page, are probably his greatest assets. That and recognition of what people can do - the strength of players, coaches and people in the organization - and putting them in position where they can have success doing it.
Ricky did a fantastic job for us this year. If someone said, 'Who have you enjoyed coaching the most in all my years of football,' he'd be one of the top guys I've ever been around.
My biggest concern was how the members of our team would respond and react to Ricky coming back. And I think everybody had the idea that if he was committed to coming back and wanted to be a player that would contribute to the success of the team, that they would be all for it.
This is only about the fifth one of those we've had this year. So it's not our first rodeo when it comes to these things, and we know how unpredictable they can be, and we know how dangerous they can be.
Nothing has changed. There is no new information.
They were all on the field. They all did some things, but they didn't participate in team (drills).
I'm looking forward to seeing them. I was really proud of the way they did this year.
He is not badly hurt. He told me today that if it were the regular season, he would play in this game, but we are obviously not going to take any chances.
It's going to be a very difficult circumstance for people to operate systematically and have the kind of money to be actively involved in free agency. It changes some of the rules relative to the system in how you can calculate a guy's salary.
I think every guy's different when it comes to that. Some guys are very instinctive and very understanding and therefore don't need to see it on the field as much.
I don't think he's ready to carry it 45 times. We're going to have to keep playing him into it, but hopefully we can get him in that 12- to 15-touch mode.
I tell my kids that a few times, too.
I think everybody needs to understand that we're not really changing our offense and we're not changing our defense. We're going to keep things as consistent for our players as we can.
You put your hand in the dirt, you got a guy sitting right there, you have to block him. You don't block him, what does it make any difference whether you are playing right guard, right tackle, left guard or left tackle? You have to move the guy. I think we are overrating anything that we have done, because we are totally missing the point.