For obvious reasons, Alabama coach Nick Saban might be the most polarizing sports figure in Baton Rouge.
It’s familiar territory. Saban began his journey from Tiger to Tide in November of 1999 as a Midwesterner on the bayou, a stoic front facing a spicy state, a question mark for a program that had played it safe in coaching hires.
He couldn’t be more of a sure thing now, delivering two national titles and four 10-win seasons in five years at Alabama as the Crimson Tide holds the No. 1 spot again this fall.
Saban is rapidly becoming more myth than man, a perceived stickler intent on preaching the oft-repeated yet abstract “process,” all while he ascends to Bear Bryant status in college football lore.
His legendary standing at Alabama may be inevitable, but it was at LSU where Saban staked an initial claim to coaching stardom.
“There’s no secret to his success — he’s a visionary,” said LSU Associate Athletic Director Michael Bonnette, who worked closely with Saban during his time in Baton Rouge. “He came in here with a plan to put LSU back on the map, and that’s where we are.”
A MAN, NOT A ROBOT
Bonnette said there is no denying Saban’s infamous intensity, but he added that the “robot” presented in the media doesn’t provide a full glimpse into the actual human.
The tales are numerous from his time at LSU. Bonnette said the coach’s sense of humor was a dry one, citing a comedic incident from one of his Southeastern Conference Media Days.
“Nick gets a bad rap as a mean or cold guy, but he saw the humor in situations,” Bonnette said. “His dog got loose at Media Day one year and wandered into the press room. I had to find the dog, corral it and bring it back to his wife, Terry. He looked at me and was cracking up. That was just the funniest thing to him.”
LSU Senior Associate Athletics Director Herb Vincent called Saban a “no-nonsense, focused individual.” But Vincent also said Saban’s “Mr. Serious” façade could crack in unexpected ways.
He recalled a scene in Saban’s office when former Tiger safety Ryan Clark made a crack about the coach’s outdated shirt collars.
“The room was bracing for a stern reaction,” Vincent said. “I think Ryan was scared as soon as he said it.”
It never came. Instead, the quip drew hearty laughter from the coach and even a wardrobe change.
“Nick had worn these shirts with real bulky, stiff collars on them,” he said. “Not too long after that, the collars got a little smaller and the shirts a little newer. He could take a joke, but he was always listening.”
That’s a side of Saban supposedly few get to see because his reputation precedes him.
THE INEVITABLE COMPARISONS
LSU sophomore defensive tackle Anthony Johnson said he chose LSU rather than Alabama, among others, because of the differing personalities between Saban and current LSU coach Les Miles.
“I related to Les better, and that’s why I’m here,” he said. “I play football to have fun, so I think that’s why I felt that way. Saban seemed like a good dude, but he didn’t seem much fun.”
The smiles may be rare, but Bonnette said that never hindered Saban’s ability to reach players. One example came each year with the Spring Game, which Saban dubbed the “Steak ’n Beans Bowl.”
After the game, the losing side would eat beans, while the winning team feasted on steak.
Saban usually sat squarely with the losers, fraternizing with them and eating beans from a tray.
According to Bonnette, Saban also had a ritual before practice to foster relationships with players.
Prior to the completion of LSU’s Football Operations Center, players would dress out before practice in the Tiger Stadium locker rooms and bus over to the practice fields.
“Instead of having them take the bus, Nick would often pull one guy aside every so often and drive through campus with them on the way to practice,” Bonnette said. “That’s how he got to know them. He earned players’ trust.”
Players may trust him, but the narrative of Nick Saban has already been sculpted, and his notorious tirades at the media and process-oriented, business-like approach often shine more than the humanity.
That was a necessary tone for LSU at the time of his arrival, as likable coaches and in-house hires alike had failed to harness the resources of Lousiana’s only big-time athletic institution.
Vincent said Saban’s tireless, narrow-minded focus spearheaded projects to build the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes and perhaps LSU’s best concrete recruiting tool, the Football Operations Center.
“Nick wanted a well-rounded program,” Vincent said. “From facilities to recruiting to fundraising, he put in an inordinate amount of time to getting the things LSU needed to establish itself as an elite program.”
An elite program that Saban’s now-primary competitor, Les Miles, holds the reigns to. The perception of the men couldn’t be more different.
The off-the-cuff Miles versus a by-the-book Saban. Luck versus Genius. The Mad Hatter versus Just Plain Mad.
Bonnette, who has worked intimately with both men, thinks the truth is probably slightly closer to the middle, but said the personality difference is a fun quirk.
“There’s a lot of different ways to skin a cat, if you will, and we’re both top-five programs,” he said. “Nick is a very private guy, whereas Les is very outgoing; no one is a stranger to Les. Nick was the opposite of that. He’s the guy in the corner that was OK being there. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
The coaching contrast and Saban’s history at LSU has also had an unintended consequence.
It’s given LSU a visible rival in Alabama, one that has entrenched the Tigers at the head of the college football table, eyeing their former coach and hated divisional foe across the way.
“With the direction of the LSU-Alabama series, I think maybe we look back at Saban vs. Miles someday like we do Bo vs. Woody, Switzer and Osborne or John McKay-Ara Parseghian at USC and Notre Dame,” said Pat Forde, Yahoo’s national sports columnist. “You need standout personalities to resonate. Saban’s does, just in a different way than most are used to, and each school has benefited. LSU has seen both.”
- Career Record: 149-54-1
- Alabama Record: 58-12
- Saban vs. LSU: 3-4
