LITTLE ROCK — Sitting on the third row, far right, watching the Alabama head coach address the media during SEC football media days, a thought kept running through the gray matter.
What makes Nick tick?
As he railed away about some agents - not all of them, just the ones who pimp - it was understandable why he was ticked off. Two years ago, he lost offensive lineman Andre Smith for the Sugar Bowl because of dealings with an agent, and right now, junior defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, who is currently suspended, is under investigation.
Dareus went to a party at an agent’s house in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Fla. Supposedly he repaid North Carolina defensive lineman Marvin Austin for the airline ticket(where did that guy get so much money?). Dareus went on the trip to escape the pressure of tending to his dying mother, who died while he was on the beach.
Without Smith, the Tide lost to Utah. Dareus, who returned a interception for a touchdown against Texas and was named the Most Valuable Player of the BCS Championship Game, is one of only three defensive starters returning. Incidentally, all three were named preseason All-SEC first team.
So coming into SEC media days with a sermon was not only OK, it was expected, because it is obvious Nick is about winning.
The man has won two national championships at two SEC schools, yet he rarely seems to smile.
A check of the new media guide shows him with his family, and he is smiling and it doesn’t look forced.
However, there are stories out there about his unrelenting drive and tongue lashings. In Miami, he made a professional football player cry.
When he first got to Alabama, a story made the rounds about the first day he reported to his office. A secretary said good morning, and later she was told by her boss not to speak to the coach unless spoken to first.
That’s never been confirmed, but it’s been told many times.
Maybe he missed his Little Debbie cookies that day. He admitted last week that if he doesn’t get two cups of coffee and two Little Debbie cookies every morning, he’s cranky all day.
He also said he made three visits to the Gulf to spread Crimson Tide hope and cheer to those who are suffering with the oil spill.
He went unannounced and without fanfare, but then he’s managed to become the face of the Alabama program without overexposing himself. He’s not pictured on the cover of the media guide, and there are only 14 pictures of him inside, seven smiling (five forced) and seven not smiling.
It seems going into his fourth season he has managed to convince most of the Crimson Tide nation to scrape off those bumper stickers that said: “Dig him up.”
Bear Bryant and his .824 winning percentage have become a pleasant memory, and Mike Shula’s .303 in four seasons has been forgotten.
Saban apparently is a control freak about everything in his environment, and when he first arrived on campus, he was not interested in any type of relationship with the media. He felt he had been burned in Miami and by national writers for leaving the Miami Dolphins after saying he wasn’t going to Alabama. (Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino can relate to the media outcry over going back to coach in college.)
Things seemed to have thawed on that front, at least a little.
At Michigan State, he and his wife, Terry, started Nick’s Kids Fund and have continued that at Alabama, and in addition to raising more than $1 million for charities, in 2008 they announced a $1 million gift to Alabama for first generation graduates.
Still, he will never seem warm and friendly, at least not publicly.
He barks and preaches and doesn’t like to be questioned, but he does give to the community.
So what makes Nick tick?
You probably have to be a Saban to know for sure, or a Little Debbie cookie.
Sports, Pages 21 on 07/28/2010