Q&A: ALABAMA COACH NICK SABAN
Alabama’s Nick Saban, six times the head coach of a national championship team, talked about all kinds of things, from texting to what keeps him going at age 67, during his final Orange Bowl press conference Friday before the OU-Bama game:
Q: I know winning is not easy. You guys make it look easy sometimes, but I know it’s not. What still drives you on an annual basis to keep doing this?
A: “I’ve always been kind of geared up to always sort of look at what’s in front of you, not necessarily look what’s behind you, and I think that the next game is always the most important, the next season is always the most important, the next team, the next group of players, and there’s always a great challenge in that. We sometimes use the analogy of every season is like climbing a mountain, and obviously when you get in a situation like we’re in now, both teams, it gets a little more treacherous at the top in terms of the consequences of mistakes and things that can happen.”
You’ve been really successful with the analyst (coaching)
role. What is your philosophy on that and the number that you have and just what they do for your program.
“I like to help people in our profession rehabilitate their career, whatever you want to call it, but also add to some of their knowledge and experience could add to some of the things that we’re doing, so it sort of worked well both ways. We’ve had some guys come in like Mike Locksley, for example, was an analyst for a year. His career was a little bit in a tough spot, and then he was a receiver coach for a year and now he’s done a really good job as offensive coordinator and he has an opportunity to be a head coach.”
With the long period between the end of the regular season and tomorrow’s game, which do you think is most favored, the better offense or the better defense?
“Some of the things that we always are concerned about when we have a lot of time between games is I feel like skill guys always come back more quickly maybe than the big guys. They lose less and come back faster. It takes the big guys a little longer. I’m talking about maybe the O-line, the D-line. I think tackling is always a big concern when players sort of get into a rhythm of the season and you’re playing a game every week and then you don’t play for a while. It’s hard to simulate some of those things in practice like you’d like to.”
On Kyler Murray, what concerns you the most? You’ve faced athletic quarterbacks before, but what concerns you about him?
“The guy is one of the most dynamic players that I have ever seen in college football in terms of his skill set. He can beat you with his feet. He’s got great speed. He’s very athletic. He’s a good passer. They have an outstanding scheme that really challenges you defensively and takes advantage of his skill set in every way, which is pretty obvious by the production that they’ve had all season long in terms of their ability to score points, make explosive plays, his ability to make explosive plays, and to distribute the ball in a way that all the other players on his team have an opportunity to make explosive plays. And they have great balance, so it’s not just one-dimensional.”