Nick Saban delivered a very memorable speech at the 2024 ESPYs on Thursday night.
Saban was receiving the Icon Award for his contributions to the game throughout his historic coaching career, which came to a close at the end of the 2023 season.
He made a few jokes and passed along some valuable wisdom during his speech. Here are a few of the highlights:
1. Practice after the ESPYs?
At the start of his speech, Saban acknowledged the 2 former Alabama Heisman Trophy winners — Mark Ingram and Bryce Young — who were on stage to present him with the award.
Saban also thanked the other former Alabama players who were in attendance — and joked that they may have enough to hold a practice after the show.
“It’s an honor for me to have 2 of our former Heisman Trophy winners be here to present this award to me,” Saban said. “And I’m also very thankful for the other players, former players who played for us, that are here tonight. We have a good group of guys here. Enough that we could actually have practice after this.”
Nick Saban after winning the Icon Award at the ESPYs:
“We’ve got enough [former players] here that we could actually have practice after this.”pic.twitter.com/qDkYjLlXYX
— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) July 12, 2024
2. Spirituality in Tiger Stadium
One anecdote Saban shared was about his time at LSU.
“Sports bring people together better than anything,” Saban said. “When we won the national championship in 2003 at LSU, I had [Reverend] Jesse Jackson come in and speak to the team. And he said to me, ‘your team, on a Saturday night, in Tiger Stadium, is closer to the kingdom of God than my church.’
“I said, ‘Jesse, have you ever been in LSU’s stadium on a Saturday night? You can smell the bourbon on the 50-yard line.'”
But Jackson had a rebuttal to Saban’s point:
“And he said, ‘no … everybody has the same goal, the rules are clearly defined and everybody is together in spirit.'”
Nick Saban giving praise to Saturday Nights in Tiger Stadium in his acceptance speech
“Ever been in Tiger Stadium on a Saturday Night?” pic.twitter.com/JnmuXnYJEe
— Sir Will (@Willie_Beamerr) July 12, 2024
3. Miss Terry appreciation
It should be no surprise that Saban acknowledged his wife and family for all the sacrifices they made throughout his career. He shed some light on those sacrifices during his speech.
“You have to have great support from your family,” Saban said. “Miss Terry has been the love of my life for 52 years. And she has supported me in every way as my family has. And I certainly appreciate that because there’s a lot of sacrifices families make in coaching.
“We actually moved 17 times before we ever got to Alabama. Seventeen times. So I can only accept this award on behalf of all the other folks that contributed to it. Which, there’s a thousand of them. And every time I look at this [trophy], I’m going to see the faces of all the people who worked so hard to help us be successful.”
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4. Parting wisdom
Saban shared a lesson that his dad taught him when he was growing up — something he carried with him throughout his career in coaching.
“And the 1 thing my dad told me, when I was a young kid in West Virginia … That was the most important part of your character, is have compassion for other people,” Saban said. “People aren’t going to remember what you say. They’re going to remember how you made them feel.”
Nick Saban dropped one of his iconic quotes during his acceptance of the ESPY’s Icon Award:
“People aren’t going to remember what you say. They’re going to remember how you made them feel.” pic.twitter.com/xmuzkZE8F7
— Sidelines – Bama (@SSN_Alabama) July 12, 2024
5. What Saban will miss about coaching
Saban had been a coach for roughly 50 years when he decided to call it a career this past offseason. He began as graduate assistant at Kent State back in 1973, working his way all the way up the ladder to the head coaching role at Alabama.
Saban used his ESPYs speech to share what he will miss most about coaching.
“There’s a lot of athletes in this room, there’s a lot of coaches in this room,” Saban said. “There’s nothing like being part of a team. That’s what I’m going to miss. I’ve been a part of a team since I was 9 years old.
“All I ever was, was the conductor of a process. And our process was to help every player be more successful in life because they were involved in the program.”
Here’s Saban’s full 7-minute speech after receiving the Icon Award at the ESPYs:
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
