Nick Saban began Alabama’s championship dynasty with a key staff meeting, new book reveals
By Keith Farner
Published:
Nick Saban got everyone on the same page, and with the same goal in mind.
Newly hired at Alabama, Saban called a staff meeting for everyone in the building. That meant janitors, secretaries, anyone who worked in any capacity with the program for a 3:00 pm meeting, according to a new book by John Talty of AL.com called “The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban: How Alabama’s Coach Became the Greatest Ever” which is due out on Aug. 9.
His message was for everyone, because their job performance would reflect on the entire program, Talty reported and wrote in the book:
Saban walked in and delivered a message that has served as a crucial tenet to his Alabama success.
“Everything we do,” Saban began, “is about recruiting. Everything we do.”
Saban said if anyone walked into the building and the bathrooms were dirty, it’d make the program look bad. Same if the floors weren’t properly swept. “This place has to be show-ready 100 percent of the time,” Saban said.
Todd Alles, who was one of his first hires as director of football operations, described the leadership environment that Saban outlined in the very beginning.
“He’s direct and emphatic about how he wants things done,” Alles said.
Added former LSU assistant LeRoy Ryals, “I heard him tell a parent in recruiting that anyone who is going to be in contact with your son — secretary, custodian, nutrition, trainer — everyone is being held to that standard. If you’re the custodian, you’re going to dump the trash in that building to a certain standard.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
