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
To be honest, I didn't even get a chance to watch the game. We came back from practice and watched film on our practice, so I didn't get to see any of the game. We respect the system that is in place and we are playing Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship game. It's a tremendous opportunity for our program and right now all we are focused on is getting our players ready to play Oklahoma.
I wish there was some big, like, deal about what happened today. But Ricky's been coming here. He's been going to meetings every day. He's been allowed to work out every day. He just has not practiced with the team.
I wish there was some big, like, deal about what happened today, ... But Ricky's been coming here. He's been going to meetings every day. He's been allowed to work out every day. He just has not practiced with the team.
We gave him the work we thought he could handle. Do I think he got enough work in the preseason to be ready for the first game? I didn't make the decision to come to practice when he came to practice. We did the best we could under the circumstances.
It was a good opportunity for us to go out and practice in not so favorable conditions, and that may benefit us someday down the road.
Absolutely. He's done an outstanding job in practice and he finishes every play. He has done everything that anybody could ask of a player. If you asked me, give me the top five guys that are the best practice players, he would be one of them. If Jason Taylor had played in a 3-4 system somewhere, he would have been a Hall of Fame outside linebacker. He's smart and he's got great instincts to learn things, better than I ever hoped for.
I would stop short of saying that Ronnie was 100 percent, but he did do everything in practice. Those decisions will be made on a day-to-day basis.
He did well, actually better than I thought he would. We did not want him to go the whole practice because we didn't want him to get in an overuse situation where he might fatigue that particular injury and have additional problems.
We try to prevent health problems from happening. We space practices out where you have two meals and two opportunities to get hydrated.
If you don't have an indoor facility, you've got to cut down the practice time in preparation for the game so the players can recover. Or you change the environment they do the work in, which an indoor facility allows you to do. It's really a player health and safety issue as much as anything.
We tried to put ourselves in a position that that wouldn't be a factor for us right now.
We tried to create a little bit of an identity as a team today. I'm proud of the effort that we put in and the way we persevered and overcame adversity. The big thing that this team did today was they had a little tenacity, a little perseverance. And I think that's something you definitely need in this league relative to the competitive balance and what you have to do to win games.
We just want to continue to be able to let them develop and progress. We're not disappointed in anybody. We're actually encouraged by our ability to throw the ball with consistency in the game by all the quarterbacks.
What's the occasion? ... Like I don't know.