Is Nick Saban hard to work for? Kevin Steele dispels notion
By Keith Farner
Published:
Former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is about set out on his first season out of college football since he was a linebacker at Tennessee in 1979.
So Steele has an especially candid perspective now to offer insight into what it’s like to work for Alabama coach Nick Saban, and shared some comments about that topic with Mobile’s SportsTalk 99.5 FM.
Steele has had two stints working with Saban at Alabama, first as defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach from 2006-07 and again as player personnel director and then linebackers coach from 2013-14. Steele clarified the outside description of Saban as a boss, and offered some thoughts on his personal experience.
“He and I have been friends since I guess 1985, so I’ve known him a long time and a lot of different situations,” Steele said., per AL.com. “No. 1 is he’s a really good friend and he is a good person. Everybody sees the coaching intensity. It’s there, but it’s not a hard place to work. I was raised by a Marine football coach, so I never knew you had to apologize for being committed to excellence. And that’s what (Saban) is and he demands it and commands it. But he’s a really, really neat person and fun to be around. He’s got a funny side now. We’ve seen it a little bit more than we used to.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
