As the daily July high temperatures in cities across the South soar into the middle 90’s, Birmingham, Alabama experiences a brief cold front every year at this time. As hundreds of media representatives converge for four days of Q&A with the 15 head football coaches of the Southeastern Conference during the annual Media Days event, one icy figure looms large every year and sends a chill up the spines of the reporters, the opposing coaches, and their fans.
Lording over the SEC’s podium again, Alabama head football coach, Nick Saban, commanded the room on Wednesday with his no-frills, straightforward and always serious tone. He never changes. He is serious about every subject every day of the year. Saban, who has won four national championships in his 10 seasons at Alabama and another title during his five years at LSU, seems to try hard to appear friendly with the media during this annual event.
But, for those of us who have closely followed Nick Saban’s stellar coaching career, his congenial-sounding answers to the media need a translation for those aren’t fluent in Saban-speak. So, here is what he really meant today:
Opening statement
Saban: “I hope everybody’s had a fantastic summer. I’m kind of proud of the fact that this is my 16th SEC Media Day, the 11th at Alabama, which I’m sure that there’s nobody in this room thought that that would ever happen when it started out 11 years ago.
Translation – “When you’re linked to every head coaching job opening every season, my agent now has my annual pay up to $6.9 million! That’s pretty good – for now”!
On Alabama’s offensive outlook in 2017…
Saban: “You know, offensively, this is the first time that we’ve had a returning starter at quarterback since 2013, which creates the opportunity for that guy to develop in the things that he needs to do better, which Jalen has done a good job in the offseason of becoming a better passer, understanding the passing game better, and we have some good running backs, and we have some good receivers and skill guys, and the offensive line has developed nicely.”
Translation – “If our returning quarterback doesn’t perform well, I have another four guys that are hungry and ready to take his job”.
On overcoming the loss to Clemson in the national championship game…
Saban: “Well, we really try to [self-evaluate] the same way because whether you win or lose, we’re always trying to self-assess to see what we need to do to get better. I think when you lose, everybody’s much more — the mindset is much more I’m willing to change. I want to learn. I don’t want to waste a failure. What could we have done better? Because everybody’s hurt by the fact that they lost, especially the way we lost that particular game on the last play of the game, but it wasn’t the last play. It’s what led up to the last play. And I think our players realize that.
Translation – “I’m still pissed-off”!
On if Alabama is making the SEC a one-team football league…
Saban: “Well, I have a tremendous amount of respect for a lot of teams in our league. I mean, LSU is very, very good. Ole Miss has beaten us a couple times in the last few years. Mississippi State has got a good quarterback coming back. Arkansas’s got a good quarterback coming back. A&M’s always a very challenging team. I think Kirby (Smart)’s doing a great job at Georgia. Jim McElwain is doing a good job at Florida. Tennessee has gotten better and better every year. I am trying to think of somebody in our league that I don’t have a tremendous amount of respect for. Vanderbilt went to a Bowl game last year and had a winning season.
Translation – “Yes”.
On facing ACC teams like Florida State and Clemson…
Saban: “You know, I think (Florida State and Clemson) probably represent and have dominated the ACC as a league for the last few years. I think they both have great coaches, great programs. You know, they’ve had good quarterbacks. And they have a lot of good players. And I think that we obviously have played Clemson two years in a row in championship games. And we’re kind of one and one against that group.
Translation – “I fired the idiot who scheduled us to play Florida State in Week 1. I had told him, “Florida Atlantic”!
