In January 2015, Urban Meyer joined Nick Saban as the only other active FBS head coach to win the national championship at two programs. Six years later, Meyer became linked to Saban in another way as a successful college coach making the jump to the NFL (though Meyer’s jump was made after a two-year retirement from college coaching).
Saban recently appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and discussed a variety of NFL-related topics, including his thoughts on how Meyer will fare as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I think he’ll do great in the NFL,” Saban told Eisen. “I think the key to it is you’ve gotta have a great staff and you’ve gotta get people in the organization on the same page in the NFL so everybody’s working together. If you can do that — I know he’s a good coach and a good motivator and players respect him — help the players get better, they’ll have success.”
Saban being asked about Meyer in an interview led to him retelling the familiar story of a young Meyer calling the Saban house looking for a position on Saban’s Toledo staff. Terry Saban advised her husband to make sure to speak to Meyer before assembling the Toledo staff.
“Urban Meyer calls the house, and he was at Illinois State or somewhere — I can’t even remember,” Saban recalled. “She talked to him and I came home that night and she said, ‘You know, I talked to this really interesting guy. Urban Meyer called,’ and she said, ‘You should make sure you talk to him before you hire a staff.’ And probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made because I never followed up, I never took her advice on that, and he’s had such a great, successful career.”
Meyer would have been an impressive addition to the Saban Coaching Tree, but if their careers had otherwise continued on the same paths, it means Saban would not have his perfect record against former assistants.
[H/T Bama OnLine]
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
