Part of the deal of being an active coach with championship rings is that he or she might get asked to comment about anything in the sport at any given time.
This has been one of those weeks for University of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who has been asked about everything from how former Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram Jr. dealt with the pressure of being a returning Heisman Trophy winner, to offering some perspective about Mike Slive, who announced that he’s retiring as commissioner of the Southeastern Conference in July:
“I’ve been in this league a long time, and he’s been commissioner a long time, since 2002, and I’ve been in this league other than the two years in Miami that entire time. What he’s done for the SEC, what he’s done for college football as whole, the foresight that he has, the vision that he has, it’s just been a fantastic impact. I don’t know of anybody in college football who has had a greater impact over the last 10-15 years than he has, with what he’s been able to do, and he’s done it with a lot of honesty, integrity, very fair and honest, easy to work with, has a lot of respect for the people he works with and he’s always treated me with a lot of respect, so I really appreciate that. I know he’s going to be with us for another year, but I really, really hate to see him go and we’re all going to miss him a lot and wish him well in his future.”
Here are four other things Saban has been talking about this week:
On the issue of players signing autographs for money and how he discourages it with the Crimson Tide:
“It’s always a concern of ours any time that there’s an issue in college football that’s very, very difficult to control externally. We are very vigilant with our process of how we counsel players, teach players. Our compliance people try to do the best possible job that we can so that we don’t have those issues. There’s a lot of folks out there that are trying to do these types of things for their own personal benefit, and the player is the one that’s going to suffer the consequences if he doesn’t make a good choice and decision. It is a concern. We’ll continue to do the best job that we possibly can in terms of our process of how to manage this.”
On Ingram after winning the Heisman:
“Mark was never a problem here. He never had a day of trouble in anything that he ever did, he always went to class, really a good person and had great character. I remember still when we walked out after he won the Heisman and we were walking across the street in New York to go and do something else at another place that he had to be, I said ‘You really can’t let this award change who you are,’ but I also said ‘You’re going to have to adjust to everybody’s going to treat you differently.’ He kind of looked at me funny, and then came back two or three months later and said, ‘I never really understood what you meant when you said that, but I really know what you mean now and it’s helped me be able to manage it.’ He was such a good person anyway I think he would have been fine managing it on his own. I think that in this day in age it’s really important that players understand that you should sacrifice the easier wrong for the more difficult right, on and off the field. And it’s always more difficult to do what’s right. I just don’t think you can be successful – and I think we all have a responsibility and obligation to set a good example in what we do. We get a lot of attention about what we do – get a lot of positive self-gratification for what you do as a college football player. I think that we have to sort of understand the responsibility that we all have in setting a good example for young people who follow us, who are going to act a lot like us. And I think that goes for the NFL, high school and college, right on down the line. And Mark Ingram did a fantastic job of that while he was here.”
On how the SEC West has changed over the years:
“I’ve been in this league a long time and when I came into this league at LSU, you know, Arkansas was really good. Ole Miss was really good. Eli was there and they had a really good team. Auburn was always really good. But you kind of know it goes in cycles in terms of who are the best teams. LSU has been really good for a long time, we’ve been pretty good for a long time, Ole Miss and Mississippi State have both gotten better, Arkansas has a lot better team than what you all are giving them credit for. Auburn’s got a really good team. Everybody in our division has a really good team and we all have to play each other. I don’t ever remember it ever being like that. You know, when I first came into the league it was always Florida, Georgia and Tennessee on the other side. They always seemed to be a little bit better than everybody else, even better than some of the people on our side of it, the West side. I know one time we played at Auburn, and they were really good, I think it was the year they won all of their games. Then we played at Georgia, and we played at Florida, three weeks in a row. That was hard.”
On former Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain’s NFL comeback with the Dallas Cowboys:
“I don’t think there’s any question about Rolando McClain and his desire to play, but I also think that sometimes things happen in your life that maybe are more important. Until you get those things sort of settled in your mind and feel comfortable with those issues, it’s really hard to focus on football. I think that was a little bit Ro’s case for personal reasons, family issues, whatever you want to call. Things that he needed to get fixed in his mind. I think when he did he was ready to play again. … “I’m happy to see that he’s having a good year and the Cowboys are doing well.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
