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
I'm really pleased for the players. These players have suffered a little bit over the last year or so in terms of things not going so well for them, ... I think that they all wanted to prove something.
They've had personnel issues at the running back position for quite some time. They are getting those guys back now and I think those guys are playing better and better. I think they're as healthy as they've been all year. I think that's the key to it. They ran the ball effectively down here. Heath Evans was basically playing tailback. I don't think there is anything wrong with their running game; I just think that they haven't had all the players available in all the right spots being healthy this year that can help them develop the running game more quickly, but it's certainly developing nicely now.
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.
Sam has worked hard and played very well for us. He has gotten better and better all year long and has especially played well in the second half of the season. He has been a good guy on our team.
Last year was a mountain climb -- we were fortunate to be able to plant the flag at the top of the mountain and win the national championship, ... This year, we have won zero games. We are at base camp at the bottom of the mountain looking up at the climb. And it will be very difficult.
Maybe this guy (Denney) won't mess up twice in a year after he's done it in 10 years, ... But if we were to cut this guy, he would have gotten claimed. And if you watch him snap you would feel the same way. We're not going to second-guess anything that we did.
He's still hard to block. He does a great job of using his hands. He still plays with a lot of power. He still can rush and block people back to the quarterback. He's very instinctive on the field -- batting balls down and making a lot of plays. I think the guy is an astounding player and I think he's had a really good year doing what they expect him to do.
He was the number one guy last year and I think he did pretty well. He didn't do anything to make us think that he couldn't do it.
I don't think we played very well. We didn't look quick, we didn't look fast and we didn't play with the same energy level that I've seen us play with throughout the year so far. I'm not blaming it on anything because that's not my nature, but we certainly didn't have the energy and the enthusiasm that we've played with to this point.
I'm very confident in him, ... Him being able to manage this situation with the first team out there is going to be a good experience for him. If this circumstance ever pops up in the future, it will be something that will serve him well.
I know they didn't play all of their players the whole time. At the same time, we did what we had to do in the game. It probably shouldn't have been as close. I'm pleased with the way these players came out given the situation.
I know Randy has learned a lesson from this. It's important for all our players to understand that they represent this team and this community, and conduct themselves accordingly. Regarding anything we will do in this specific instance, it's a team matter and as such will be handled privately.
I'm looking forward to seeing them. I was really proud of the way they did this year.
It's most important that we use caution right now, in terms of trying to keep some of our better players and more experienced players that have impact and leadership ready for the season,