Coach $aban

Anyone who knows anything about football at the University of Alabama has at least heard the name “Saban”. Apart from being the head coach of one of the nation’s top Division I football programs, Alabama’s head coach, Nick Saban, is currently receiving one of the highest coaching salaries in all of college football. This has lead many Alabama fans to wonder what it is that makes him worth so much more than all the other coaches. The answer to their question lies in the fact that, throughout his life, Saban gradually gathered the tools he would need to become one of the greatest college coaches today. These “tools for success” include his experiences playing college football, his college degree, his experiences as a college coach, and the knowledge he obtained while coaching in the NFL.

Although many believe that coaching experience is the sole quality that makes a great coach, this is not the only aspect that leads to coaching success. According to Rolltide.com, Nick Saban was born in Fairmont, West Virginia on October 31, 1951. He attended college at Kent State University from 1969-1973. While at Kent State, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in business. Saban then went on to graduate school where he worked to obtain his master’s degree in 1975 in sports administration (Rolltide.com). In Nick Saban’s case, by obtaining an undergraduate degree in business, he was able to enter into a coaching career with a perspective of college football as not simply a game, but as a business. By continuing his studies and obtaining a master’s n sports administration, he was able to then carry over his knowledge of business and apply it to sports. For example, he learned that in a business, the harder you work during the week, the better the pay at the end of the week. He not only uses this philosophy to better himself as a coach, but he also introduces this philosophy into the minds of each of his players. Morgan Oglvie, a sophomore quarterback currently playing under Saban, stated that “Coach has an unbelievable work ethic and it has really carried over to my teammates and I. I think that alone has been a major contributor to our recent success”.

Although the education Saban obtained during his years at Kent State was very beneficial to his future career, this was not the only tool that he gathered there. According to secsportsfan.com, Nick Saban also played defensive back for the Kent State Golden Eagles (Nick Saban Biography). There are many coaches in college football that never even played football in college. The experiences Saban earned as a player allow him to see the game of football not only through the eyes of a coach and a business man, but through the eyes of a young college player. He knows what it is like to play at that level. He understands what is going through the minds of his players because he remembers what it was like to be in their shoes. He knows what drives them, what motivates them, and even what distracts them. In the words of Oglvie, “Coach’s strong understanding of us as players really helps us to understand our role on the team. He doesn’t ask too much and he doesn’t ask too little. I also think his understanding of college players gives him a leg up on other coach’s in recruiting players too”.

The experiences Saban earned while in college are very helpful, but equally beneficial is the knowledge he obtained throughout his college coaching career. According to secsportsfan.com, Saban began his coaching career serving as an assistant coach at colleges such as Kent State, Syracuse, Michigan State, Ohio State, and the Naval Academy. He obtained his first job as a head coach in 1989 at the University of Toledo. Later, in 1995, Saban accepted the head coaching job at Michigan State University where he converted a losing team into a winning program. Saban left the Spartans in 1999 in order to accept a job in the SEC as the head coach of the Louisiana State University Tigers. Saban helped the Tigers obtain an SEC Championship in only his second year there and yet another in 2003. That same year, he led the Tigers in becoming BCS National Champions (Nick Saban Biography). It is obvious that, throughout his climb through the ranks of college coaching, Saban learned the ins and outs that allowed him to reach the level of success that most college coaches only dream of. Although the majority of his knowledge coaching football came from his experiences in college, he did learn from other coaching experiences.
According to Rolletide.com, Saban served as the secondary coach for the Houston Oilers from 1988-1989 before accepting his first college head coaching job. This was his first coaching job in the National Football League but Saban’s professional coaching career did not stop there. He went on to coach the defense of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-1994 before again returning to coach college. Saban returned to the NFL yet again after his success at LSU and accepted the job as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He coached in Miami until he was offered the head coaching job here at the University of Alabama in 2007 (Nick Saban Profile). His time spent coaching in the NFL not only added to his prestige as a coach, but he also learned different techniques for coaching. In the NFL, he learned to coach players that were receiving enormous sums of money for simply stepping onto the field, and after learning to do that, it proved much easier to coach college players who merely dreamt of making money playing a sport they love.

After delving into the background of Nick Saban, it is clear why he is considered one of the best football coaches around. His experiences in college, both as a student and a player, and the knowledge he gathered while coaching in college and the NFL have all contributed to his coaching success. Maybe now, the next time Alabama fans see Nick Saban being escorted by police as he drives down University Boulevard in his brand-new, black Mercedes, they’ll understand how lucky they are to have him as their coach.

Works Cited
“Nick Saban Biography”. SEC Sports Fan. 13 Sep. 2009
<>
Nick Saban Profile. 14 Sep. 2009.
<>
Oglvie, Morgan. Personal interview. 15 Sep. 2009