Saban talks perfection, complacency in ESPN conversation
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The teaser made quite a splash on Friday, and now ESPN’s Sunday conversation with Nick Saban has aired in full.
The segment features Tim Tebow and Marty Smith out at the coach’s house on Lake Burton (Ga.), the place where he says he can get away from football and relax.
For much of the conversation, Saban reflects on his career. His demand for perfection on the field can be attributed to his father.
“When I was a kid growing up, my dad was a perfectionist,” Saban said. “He had high expectations for not just how we played football or baseball, but how we treated other people, the compassion for other people how we helped other people.”
He then cited an example of having to wash a car second time because it had streaks in it after the first wash.
“I kind of grew up that if you didn’t do it right, there were gonna be consequences to deal with. And it was much easier to do it right the first time,” Saban said.
When Tebow asked how Saban learned to compartmentalize his life, the coach talked a philosophical change that occurred when he first joined the SEC.
“The last couple years when I was at Michigan State, I had a philosophical change in approach,” Saban said. “I was all about winning and there was a pressure on me and I felt like I had to win all the time. I sometimes I think I affected the team and made them feel that way.
“When I went to LSU, I adopted the philosophy that ‘hey, we’re going to play everything one play at a time’ … It was more fun for me, more fun for the players and we got a lot better results.”
The coach views complacency as the biggest threat to success.
“Complacency creates a blatant disregard for doing what’s right,” Saban said.
During Alabama’s continued success under Sabana the Crimson Tide have never gotten complacent – much to the rest of the conference’s dismay.
The full segment can be viewed here.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
