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 if he showed he was committed to coming back and wanting to be a productive player, that's the only issue with me. From a team standpoint, I've discussed this with some of the key leaders on the team ... and it would be counterproductive to me to turn my back on all that.
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.
There are still lessons to learn from this game. I'm very proud of what this team was able to do down the stretch. We're not in the playoffs, but it wasn't all in vein.
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.
It enhances our chances to prepare our team well.
We'd like for everybody on the team that dresses to have some kind of role in the game,
We are not in the playoffs, but it was not all in vain. This group was a team for the last six weeks of the season, for sure.
We believe we are a better team today than we were yesterday.
We are pleased with the team chemistry we have right now, and we are pleased with what the players are doing. My comment is going to be about that. It is not on any speculation about what is going to happen in the future.
Would we rather have been in a situation where we didn't have to call timeout by having the best block team that we could on the field? Absolutely, but that wasn't the case, ... I felt that it was an important enough situation in the game, because our guys do a pretty good job inside of getting penetration, to get the right guys in there to do the best job of trying to get the kick blocked.
We're modern-day gladiators, that mental toughness, if you will, is really important to have in a good team. It's got to permeate your team and there has to be a core group of guys that buy in and believe in that.
He's played a great role for this team all year. He's been unselfish, he's been a really good team guy and he's been very helpful with a lot of other players in terms of what he's done. I can't tell you how much we appreciate it as an organization based on what he's done and how he's played and how he's overcome a lot. We're real proud of him.
I would be a little disappointed for our players (if a blackout occurs). These guys have worked hard, and we have done a lot to try to make the team better.
Gus is going to make us a better team at the quarterback position. His knowledge and experience that comes with being a veteran will help the development of some of our younger players. In addition, he is familiar with our system and he'll create competition at the position.