There are only a handful of coaches who know what it takes to develop a winning culture on multiple championship teams. Alabama’s Nick Saban is in that exclusive group.

Joe Smith, a writer with The Athletic, interviewed Saban, the NBA’s Steve Kerr, NFL’s Bruce Arians and MLB’s Joe Maddon. Saban, of course, is well known for his philosophy of process over outcome. But shared with Smith that, “You’ve got to have the work ethic, the discipline, the perseverance and the ability to overcome adversity, have that pride in performance.”

On “The Paul Finebaum Show” on the SEC Network, Smith shared that Saban loved to share the “behind the scenes process” of building the program to the point where it doesn’t need to be sold anymore with the number of championships Saban has delivered to Alabama. Smith said that Saban learned a lot of his framework from the likes of Bill Belichick, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

The common thread to building a culture takes time.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, you have to create synergy with leaders, the top players,” Smith said. “… Nick Saban said they don’t have any signs that say win SEC championships or national championships in their weight room. It’s all about process, and accountability and about competition and that kind of thing.”

Saban promoted that incremental wins, like a minute at a time, or a video session, or a play in practice that build over time.