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
We want to duplicate enthusiasm and team energy,
Even though our offensive line did a really good job this year, it is an area of our team that we may be able to add something to that might enhance it even more, especially with the kind of running backs that we have. I don't think we have an older guy on our team who is not capable of continuing to play. I think the issue becomes, can they do it and sustain it for the season? Those are the tough decisions that we have to make, but we are going to have to do that with defensive players because we need to get younger.
With such a demanding schedule, it's also important that we improve as the season progresses and develop the kind of team chemistry that will allow us to play winning football and finish strongly as we did last year.
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 lost two great players who were part of a dominating front, ... Young players are going to determine the depth and quality of the kind of defensive team we're going to have.
We didn't pick up Gus for his brains. He's on this team because of his arm. How he chooses to celebrate is his business. He can butt heads with a brick wall as far as I'm concerned, as long as his right arm remains healthy.
We all like winning. The fun of this is a job well done. The purpose of what we do is to have success. We focused a lot this year on the process of what you need to do to be successful. I think this team has bought into that and has a belief system that has been beneficial to how we've competed.
Maybe we can create some problems and issues for teams by doing that.
Nobody ever said this team wasn't tough. Look at that, it took two teams to eliminate us from the playoffs.
One of the most difficult parts of my job is having to release players, and the past week has emphasized this fact. This is especially true when those players made significant contributions to the success of the team in the past. Ideally, we would like to keep many of those players on our roster, but we are simply not able to do that.
I would be a little disappointed for our players (if a blackout occurs). These guys have worked hard, and we have done a lot to try to make the team better.
I am so happy for Ricky. He has played a great role for this team all year. He has been unselfish and has been a really good team guy.
But what happened in their first game is no indication of the kind of team that they have.
We need to make sure we have an adequate backup at that position. We're trying to work through that right now, either with the players we have on our team or some who are available in free agency.