Alabama Football: Interviewing Players Gives Good Insight into Nick Saban

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

While I thoroughly enjoy watching the games from the press box, sharing thoughts with other people in the media during meals and halftime and being on the sideline to walk off the field with the players after the game, the real joy is getting to interview players after the game.

Yes, I've been lucky and Coach Saban has allowed me to ask a question in every press conference I've attended, but to really know the team and the man who runs it, you need to talk to the players.

Something I like to do is ask lots of players the same question and see if the answers are consistent. Sometimes, they are, and sometimes, they're not.

One of the consistent ones is, "What is one thing you better not say to Nick Saban on the practice field?"

The consistent story is a player makes a mistake in practice and Saban charges in and says, "What were you thinking?" and the one thing you'd better not say is, "I don't know".

"It's OK to make mistakes in practice if you're trying your best", Javier Arenas told me, "But if if you made a mistake and you don't know why, man, you're going to set him off!" Arenas said with a laugh.

"Coach Saban says that all the skills and speed in the world are useless if you're not thinking. If you don't know what you're doing or what you were thinking, you don't need to be on the field." Arenas finished.

His thoughts were echoed in many ways by many players over the years, but the core was the same. Saban wants people who know what needs to be done and formulates a plan to do it.

That's pretty basic, but so true. So if Nick Saban charges you, you better know what you were thinking.

Another question is, "What do you do to get a smile out of Nick Saban?"

This one runs the full range of answers from "Tripping over your own feet and looking quick to see if he saw that." to "Doing something so extraordinary you haven't done before, and hearing him say that now you've done it once, do it that way every time."

But my favorite was something that was mentioned more than once. "Win!

Coach comes into the locker room after the game and if we've done good, before he ever says a word, you just look at that smile on his face and you know it's real man. That's the longest smile you'll see him make" Mark Ingram told me.

Again, it shows that Saban enjoys the bumps and excitement along the way, but the real prize comes only when the day is won and everything they've worked for collectively all comes together.

In looking back over past interviews where I've asked what quality they like best in Nick Saban, the answers show that he is truly many things to many different people.

"He's the real deal, he won't sugar coat things or lie to you, you know where you stand with Coach Saban."

"He knows what he's doing, he knows what works and he gets all of us to buy into it. He makes everyone feel like they all a role to play."

"He works as hard as we do. We all work hard."

"He's more than a coach, he's like another father. He really cares about us as people, not just as players."

"He's taught us that life is more important than football, family is more important too. It's not just about getting us to be better football players, but better people. He wants us to be winners in everything."

But the one that sticks in my mind the most is from a player who left after the 2009 season, Marquis Johnson, who was Alabama's nickel back.

He said,"He knows how to build you up and pick you up if you have some failures. He's taught me that the real metal of a man is seen when he has to get up off the ground. Everybody has some bad times, but winners learn from them and come back stronger."

"If you give your all, he'll never give up on you, even if you made some bad mistakes. That teaches us to never give up on our teammates out there. It's all about picking each other up, building each other up, trusting one another." Johnson said.

Those favorite qualities were honesty, knowledge, hard work, caring, building you up and picking you up when you're down.

Now those are great qualities indeed for players to look for in a coach.

As reporters, most of us get precious little time one-on-one with Nick Saban, but in talking to the players, you get to learn a lot about the man.