Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Alabama, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other universities: Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Toledo. His eight-year contract totaling US$32 million made him one of the highest paid football coaches, professional or collegiate, in the United States at the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth31 October 1951
CityFairmont, WV
CountryUnited States of America
It enhances our chances to prepare our team well.
I think everybody needs to understand that we're not really changing our offense and we're not changing our defense. We're going to keep things as consistent for our players as we can.
I think one of the things that really impressed me was the fact that he wanted to be here. It was kind of his dream to be able to come back in this state and play and maybe develop a legacy here. I think that's something that was important to him and something that was interesting to us.
It doesn't get any bigger than that. It was a big play in the game.
It doesn't mean that just because we work somebody out that we have an issue. That is not something that anybody should assume. There are things called information gathering and we are allowed to use workouts of players who are not under contract to gather information about those players.
I tell my kids that a few times, too.
I think if he showed he was committed to coming back and wanting to be a productive player, that's the only issue with me. From a team standpoint, I've discussed this with some of the key leaders on the team ... and it would be counterproductive to me to turn my back on all that.
I think he's going to need to play some. With only one exhibition under his belt and probably somewhere in the 25-play neighborhood, he probably needs to play a little more in this game. The plan in not playing him in the first game was with the idea that he would play in two games in his preparation for the season.
I think he played outstanding and I am so happy for Ricky for some positive self-gratification that he'll get from his performance today because he certainly deserves it.
I think he has the arm talent to do it. He can do it.
I think he got enough work in the preseason to be ready for the first game. We did the best we could under the circumstances. We'll continue to try to develop him in the beginning of the season.
We have people in personnel, coaching, the front office. Everybody should be working toward the same goal.
You don't control whether you can go up or down sometimes. It's not something that you can just do because you want to. What is available to you may have some impact on what you decide to do if you did have an opportunity to do it.
We were very fortunate that we were able to sign a free agent who turned out to be even better than maybe we thought in his ability to snap and protect. From a business standpoint, it always makes sense to go with the younger guy.