Nick Saban is regarded by many as the greatest head football coach in the history of college football but before he was given an opportunity to run his own program, the Alabama coach worked his way up the coaching ladder thanks to his expertise on the defensive side of the ball.

After helping create, develop and tweak the defensive system used to create dynasties in the NFL (along with Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots) and in college football, Saban’s Crimson Tide defenses have taken a step back in recent seasons after both Kirby Smart and Jeremy Pruitt left Tuscaloosa to take over their own respective programs.

Now under the leadership of defensive coordinator Pete Golding, many fans have been quick to point the finger at the Alabama assistant coach for the team’s struggles on defense. How much of the blame is deserving?

Saban doesn’t apparently think much of it as the Alabama coach was asked to share his take on why Alabama’s defense struggled last season during a recent appearance on the 247Sports “Social Distance” interview series.

“We didn’t execute very well last year. There’s a price to pay for winning. There’s a price to pay for being a leader,” Saban said on the show. “You have to push people and get them to do things that they might not want to do — make them uncomfortable. You almost have to get used to being – everybody wants to be comfortable but you’ve got to use to get used to being uncomfortable if you’re really going to be successful and you’re really going to be good.

“And I could really relate to that, because that’s kind of what we’ve always tried to get the players in our program to do. Some understand it, some don’t, you know? Some people use that against us in recruiting sometimes because I’ve heard, ‘You don’t have any fun at Alabama.’ Well, you know, we have fun here. I mean, the structure that we have is so the players don’t have too much fun. But at the same time, we’re also trying to create a culture of accountability, where, you know, the players have the best chance to develop, you know, a kind of habits that are going to help them be successful in their life and their future.”

Based on his response, Saban doesn’t appear to believe the Crimson Tide had the level of performance that is expected on the field and had a lack of leadership off it.

Whether or not that changes this offseason remains to be seen but Saban had his opportunity to call out Golding there and the Alabama head coach definitely didn’t bounce on it.