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
I think those are the kinds of decisions we would certainly like to have some input into. Our goal and focus is, number one, to respect the player. Ricky did an outstanding job for us on the field. Secondly, (we want to) respect the decision of the league, relative to what they felt it was necessary to do.
The No. 1 thing is we want somebody who is going to manage the game and give us the best opportunity to be successful. We were going to make the decision based on this position based on who we felt would give us the best opportunity to win, and managing the game is a really important part of that.
The number-one thing is we want somebody who is going to manage the game and give us the best opportunity to be successful. We were going to make the decision based on this position based on who we felt would give us the best opportunity to win, and managing the game is a really important part of that.
Sometimes, just like when players are available, you have to make decisions on whether we should bring someone like that into our organization. It's not about whether you have an opening or not. It's about whether this is a positive addition to our organization. That's what we've done. That doesn't mean that it creates other issues for somebody else.
I would stop short of saying that Ronnie was 100 percent, but he did do everything in practice. Those decisions will be made on a day-to-day basis.
Even though our offensive line did a really good job this year, it is an area of our team that we may be able to add something to that might enhance it even more, especially with the kind of running backs that we have. I don't think we have an older guy on our team who is not capable of continuing to play. I think the issue becomes, can they do it and sustain it for the season? Those are the tough decisions that we have to make, but we are going to have to do that with defensive players because we need to get younger.
I'm here to say that we're here to help both guys get better and improve, and we'll make the decisions based on what's best for our offensive team to get better.
I think that he needs to play some, I really do. With only one exhibition game under his belt, he probably needs to play a little bit more in this game.
There's an old saying, ... If a rattlesnake bites itself, it still dies.
He had a lot of tough yards out there.
I've looked at all of them. Just because you're on a diet doesn't mean you can't look at the menu, right?
The analogy that I like to use is it doesn't do a lot of good to buy a condo on the beach that the mortgage is so high on it you can't put any furniture in it. You have no couch or TV. And a part of this process is to be able to inspect that condo and make sure that it's worth what you think it might be worth.
That is the challenge for me, to keep answering them the same way.
I really tried to make this about our team, coming back here to play, I really do feel this was coming home to play a game and it was exciting for me. It was exciting to be back in Tiger Stadium.