When it comes to college football head coaches with fiery personalities, Alabama’s Nick Saban certainly has a spot on the list. From countless broken headsets to heated interviews here and there, the sight of the 68-year-old screaming on the sidelines is something that just about every fan has come to expect when the Crimson Tide take the field on Saturdays in the fall.
But ask those who have played for Saban over the years, and they’ll tell you that there’s a completely different side — one that the public is rarely exposed to — to one of the greatest coaches the game has ever known. If you meet the other version of Saban, you might just suddenly find yourself talking to him about the latest hit television show, among other topics.
Tua Tagovailoa, who served as Alabama’s starting quarterback for each of the past two seasons, spoke of the non-football side to Saban on Thursday while appearing as a guest on the Dan Patrick Show. The likely first-round pick in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft was asked to share one his favorite Saban stories during the interview, and before long, Tagovailoa was recalling a time last offseason when his former head coach couldn’t stop talking about the show Game of Thrones over the phone.
“I’d say a pretty cool one was in the spring, coach Saban … we were close but when it came time for summer break, Coach Saban would just text to see how we were doing and call. Coach Saban called and I answered … then he brings up Game of Thrones. He was like ‘Did you watch the last episode of Game of Thrones?’ From there we just started talking about Game of Thrones. I think people look at Coach Saban as someone who is really strict and really hard on the players when really there is time for everything. On the field, it’s straight business. But off the field, he’s a very personable person. He really cares about his players and really cares about his coaching staff. Summer camp, he could yell at me the entire practice. Then once it’s over, he’s joking and everybody is laughing. You’re confused because just two minutes ago he was yelling at you.” — Tua Tagovailoa
Nick Saban is a big Game of Thrones guy according to @Tuaamann pic.twitter.com/YAligNe6AZ
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) January 30, 2020
As for other Saban tales? Word has it that the six-time national champion head coach is fond of using one joke in particular, as heard above, during practice — one that was first brought to light by former Alabama football player Josh Jacobs, who shared with Dan Patrick that Saban has the ‘deez nuts’ joke in his repertoire. Tua, too, was able to confirm that.
“Oh I’ve heard it for sure, and it’s one of those things where you’re like about to take the snap and then he makes the joke and you’re like ‘was that coach?'”
That aside, Saban has firmly etched his place in college football lore as he takes a 152–23 career head coaching record into the 2020 season, which will be his 14th season in Tuscaloosa. But as the old adage goes, you can never judge a book by its cover. Take a deep dive in, and you just never know what you might encounter along the way.
