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Stepping into Nick Saban’s office is stepping into a time warp. A velvety red curtain dims the sunlight behind his presidential desk; two straw hats rest on a carved wooden pole in the corner. The oriental rugs and leather tufted chairs are accessories to a Victorian home, not a glitzy, multi-billion-dollar football facility.
Saban is a traditionalist. In his world, the hurry-up offense is sacrilege, shocking and separating from a blocker and tackling in open space is welcome in the first 20 minutes of practice (physicality, after all, won him four out the last seven national championships). Mention satellite camps to the 64-year-old and you had better be talking about something involving NASA.
Practices are planned months in advance. The only newspaper Saban reads regularly is the Tuscaloosa News. He eats Little Debbie pies for breakfast and the same iceberg lettuce salad everyday for lunch, because he has better things to do than waste time deciding what to eat. Saban is mysterious, he is intense, he is always sought-after—you can bet any college or NFL team would hire him in a second.
This season, I’ll be writing a college football column for The MMQB. The idea is, along with addressing the wildly popular college version of the sport, bridging the gap between NFL and NCAA football. You’ll hear from scouts, NFL personnel, and influencers you never knew existed. You’ll meet the everyone from big-time coaches, Heisman front-runners, and this year’s Carson Wentz (still in the process of identifying him, stay tuned).
For the debut, I visited Tuscaloosa to meet Saban; for the NFL, he’s the one that got away. Ever since his abrupt divorce from the Dolphins after the 2006 season, Saban’s name has bubbled with any NFL opening. With each passing year, a return to the NFL seems more unlikely. As Phil Savage, the former NFL GM and Crimson Tide radio color analyst explains it: Alabama has become a lifestyle for Saban. His mother lives in Birmingham. He has a grandchild nearby. His uncle is on the sidelines for game day. Taking another job would disrupt that.
Even if Saban never returns to the NFL, the man who has groomed 55 draft picks (including 18 first-rounders) since 2009 has unparalleled perspective on the college and NFL Venn diagram. In a candid conversation, Saban—with a late August tan and his Sperry’s perched on an antique coffee table—discusses career regrets, draft reform, and a growing divide between college and pro offenses. The coach in his own words…