Former Alabama coach Nick Saban has now officially gone a full year away from the sidelines as a mentor, and he seems to be right at home in his new role as a media personality. His wife, Miss Terry, certainly seems to be enjoying the new gig, too.
But much about what drove Saban to leave the sidelines has remained a mystery.
In an appearance on The Pivot podcast with Ryan Clark and Channing Crowder, Saban revealed one key factor in his retirement decision came directly from Miss Terry.
“So that was one of the things that she hated, that she wasn’t developing relationships with the players and having them over.”
The new world of NIL has certainly changed the game, and it might just have been a large contributing factor for one of the game’s greatest coaching figures ever to walk away.
Saban went on to praise Miss Terry repeatedly for the kind of anchoring influence she had in his career, though.
He started the story back in his days at Michigan State, one of the first stops along what would become a remarkable journey through the college ranks.
“When I was at Michigan State, I mean the media made me Attila the Hun,” Saban explained. “Like I was this mean, angry coach who was getting on everybody all the time. They were 2-9 when you visited there coming off that last season, then I took over. So it was a tough job. It was a tough rebuild. And I was, I was nervous, I was anxious, I always thought I was going to say the wrong thing, I didn’t develop any relationships with people in the media. So they made me out to be this sort of Attila the Hun bad guy.
“And I would go home and I’d say, ‘I’m not really like that, man. I hate that these, it just bothers me that everybody’s making me out to be this way.’ And she said, ‘Do you ever look at yourself?’ Said, ‘Just look at yourself. You’re nervous, you’re anxious, you’re curt with the people, you don’t respect them, you say they’re asking dumb questions. I mean what do you expect?’
That tough love from Miss Terry forced some serious introspection for Saban, who was a young coach at the time. Little did he know, it was advice that would eventually help him reach the mountaintop.
Not before a little pain, though.
“It really pissed me off. I mean I really got pissed,” Saban said. “But then when I thought about it I said, you know, she’s right. And I started to change and I started developing relationships, taking time with people, having them in my office, talking to them. It was very, very helpful.
“And that’s one of the reasons I always had a really good relationship with ESPN. Because I was one of the first to let them come to practice and do whatever they call those things where they do the two-a-days and all that kind of stuff. But I think that really helped your image, which helps recruiting, which helps all kinds of things.”
The rest, as they say, is history. But Saban will always have that love for Miss Terry for helping him along.
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