How Nick Saban Is Alabama's Secret Weapon in Basketball Coaching Search

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban hasn’t exactly felt the effects of a struggling men’s basketball program across the street at Coleman Coliseum.

Since Saban got to Tuscaloosa in 2007, Alabama made the NCAA tournament just once, getting bounced in the first round. Meanwhile the football team won three national championships and became the premier program in the country during that span.

Alabama is a football school first, second and third. That's never going to change.

Still, Saban sees the importance of being more than just that.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

“I don't want Alabama to be just a football school,” Saban said. “I want to be good at football, we have high expectations for what we want to accomplish. But I really want us to be good in everything.”

As Alabama searches for a new basketball coach, Nick Saban is going to be its secret weapon. Saban has had good basketball relationships in the past, and there is a precedent of him being willing to help out with other sports, whether it’s a motivational speech to the team or sending high-profile recruits to visit with the iconic coach for a couple of minutes.

CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish wrote that as Alabama makes a run at Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, “it's possible football coach Nick Saban could eventually be involved in what would amount to a high-profile recruitment.”

As he should.

“I think when you're good in everything, in this day and age, there's a lot of attention whether it's women's softball, tennis, our gymnastics program here, our golf program men and women's, basketball, baseball,” Saban said. “I want to be good in everything and I've tried to be supportive in every way to help them to recruit and to support their programs.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Saban has extended a helping hand, either.

He annually speaks before the postseason to the gymnastics team, which has won six NCAA titles, the most of any non-football program at Alabama. Former coach Sarah Patterson, who won all six, has told stories about how Saban has “never said no” to her when she would ask him to speak to the team or meet with a recruit.

Softball coach Patrick Murphy told AL.com’s Don Kausler Jr. in 2012 that Saban is “2 for 2 with softball recruits.”

"He invites them to sit down in his office,” Murphy told Kausler. “It's a neat thing to see, because he's very at ease. I'm nervous, but he makes everybody else very at-home, and I think the parents really enjoy it."

He even made an appearance with Alabama’s club hockey team this year:

Saban has shown a willingness to extend his influence to other parts of the athletic department.

And basketball is where some of Saban’s best relationships have formed.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Specifically, he called Michigan State coach Tom Izzo “probably one of my best friends.” The two became friends when they both coached in East Lansing, growing nationally competitive programs, and have maintained that relationship to this day.

Case in point: Izzo recently gave Saban some “insider information” that helped Saban get ahead in a family competition.

The Sabans do March Madness brackets every year (go away NCAA, no money changes hands). Initially, Saban had Michigan State going out in the second round to Virginia this year. But when he was talking to Izzo, he changed his mind.

“I talked to Tom and he said, 'If we can beat Georgia, I think we can beat Virginia,’” Saban said. “So I had Virginia beating them, but I picked (Michigan State).”

And Saban was a regular presence in Tuscaloosa for basketball coach Anthony Grant, who was recently let go after a second straight losing season.

"I've tried to be very supportive of all the other coaches here, including the basketball coaches," Saban said. "Had a really good relationship with Anthony Grant, had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a person and as a coach, and really feel like we did everything we could do to help recruit players and support the program as much as we could.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

If "Alabama is gonna go big," as one source told Parrish, offering top-tier money to a coach like Marshall to come to a program that has struggled as of late, there’s no reason to believe Saban won’t be involved in at least part of the proceedings.

Parading a potential coach through the successes of various Alabama programs and finishing with Saban, the most successful and recognizable of them all, would be a major recruiting tactic as well as a show of what is possible with the resources of a major athletic department like Alabama.

Saban can make that happen and will be Alabama’s secret weapon as it tries to make a splash with the other revenue sport on campus.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes and reporting were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.