Nick Saban interview transcript


Before Monday, I'd only dealt with Alabama football coach Nick Saban in group settings. It's pretty much impossible to have anything resembling a one-on-one conversation with him in Tuscaloosa because people are absolutely loco about Alabama football around there. You show up for their weekly press conference and there are generally upwards of 100 TV and newspaper reporters seated in an auditorium.

It's a different culture.

At Georgia or Auburn, for instance, it’s easy to have a conversation with Mark Richt or Tommy Tuberville because there are fewer layers of insolation between the head coaches and the folks who cover their teams.

Saban has always been viewed as the sort of guy who doesn't enjoy dealing with the press or gladhanding his fans on the chicken dinner circuit. The funny part, of course, is that the writers I know who cover him on a daily basis say he’s not an ogre away from the practice field and press conference podium. The man can be side-splittingly funny, but he's more loose and accomodating when it’s not football season. The competitive tunnel vision kind of subsides for an instant and you see the regular guy in him.

So I showed up Monday to cover the SEC Celebrity Golf Classic at the Country Club of Columbus not really knowing which Nick Saban we'd get. Would he agree to an interview or try to run over me with his golf cart? The man was, understandably, in a bit of a hurry once he got done playing in the afternoon. This time of the year is hectic for college coaches even though practice doesn't resume until August. In addition to trying to make recruiting inroads during the spring evaluation period, they're traveling to various speaking engagements and such.

Anyway, as Saban walked off the 18th green, I caught up with him and asked him a few questions. My esteemed colleagues from the local TV stations -- Andrew Wittenberg from WTVM and Jack Rogers from WRBL -- also joined us. Saban seemed to enjoy the day in general and didn't have us on the stop watch when we interviewed him. Here's a transcript of my conversation with him:

Question: How often do you get to play in events like these and how did you hit it today?

Saban: ‘‘Not very many. ... It depends on what your definition (of success) is. To me, if I hit it airborne, that's a good shot. I'm not disappointed because I hit one ground ball all day.''

Q: You guys are obviously getting together for charitable causes (the foundations of former Alabama player Jeremiah Castille, former Auburn player Joe Cribbs and former Georgia player David Pollack), but does it feel strange at all partnering up with folks from your in-state rival?

Saban: ‘‘I think it's great. At Michigan State, we had a lot of these kinds of events. Bo (Schembechler) had a thing for adrenal cancer at Michigan. The cause we're out here for today is much greater than the competition. Just because you compete doesn't mean you can't do the right things when it comes to supporting great causes. I'm glad to be here to support it.

Q: With the NCAA banning coaches from visiting high school campuses in the spring, people are talking about your use of a webcam to communicate with prospects. How long have you used it and why is it advantageous?

Saban: ‘‘It came from our medical staff in Miami (with the Dolphins). We're kind of in an age where most of these guys don't read books. They watch videos. Any time you can be visual ... I feel like any time you're sitting there in a video conference talking to a coach or a player, it's almost like you're there. It's much better than a phone call. That's just something that we've used in the past that we've used a little bit this year in recruiting. Since we can't go out and visit the coaches and see the players practice, this has worked out good. I enjoy it. I don't know if they enjoy it. The biggest thing I struggle with, I guess it's the pro ball guy in me, you watch a guy on film, you go to the (NFL) combine and watch him work out, then you go work a player it. It's kind of a crosscheck. I never went out as much (recruiting in the spring) at Michigan State because they didn't have spring ball there, but the fact that all these guys are playing in most of the states that we recruit, I used to go see the best five or six players at every position. It was a great crosscheck.

‘‘You always kind of knew the guy in Mississippi compared to the guy in Georgia compared to the guy in Alabama. That was a great evaluation tool for all of us.’’

Q: Since you can't go visit the campuses now, how are you using your time? What else can you focus on?

Saban: ‘‘Because there's no travel involved, we've tried to do a little bit more with relationship building. The first 16 months we were at Alabama, we worked hard at trying to get our program right and make inroads in recruiting.’’

Q: You guys have had 80,000 to 90,000 fans at the last two spring games and you're mobbed at Crimson Caravan events. Does that kind of underscore what fans expect from you?

Saban: ‘‘I think that positive energy is the most important thing in trying to accomplish any goal. I know our players appreciate what our fans have done in terms of supporting our program and what we're trying to do. That positive energy they've demonstrated helps us in recruiting and in a lot of ways. One thing our fans have done is be extremely supportive.’’

Q: (From Andrew Wittenberg of WTVM) Do you feel like the program is ahead of where it was at this time last year?

Saban: ‘‘I can't make comparisons. The two things we didn't do last year that we need to improve on -- we didn't play with enough consistency. We got ahead in games and let people come back. We played up to the good teams and didn't play as well in some of the other games. We didn't finish. We didn't finish the season. We didn't finish certain games. We didn't play to the standard of excellence we were capable of on a consistent basis. I think we made some progress in this offseason and in this spring practice. Hopefully we'll show some improvement next year.’’

Q: Were the Auburn fans cool to you out there?

Saban: ‘‘Everybody was nice to me. I appreciate that. Glad to do something like that.’’

Q: (as Saban is preparing to get his golf clubs and head out) Heard they were having trouble finding a plane to get you home ... (Alabama booster Paul Bryant Jr. wound up sending his to Columbus to pick up Saban)

Saban (smiling): ‘‘I don't know. I've got to call the office. If they don't have one, they won't answer the phone.’’