SABAN CAN COACH FOR ANOTHER DECADE…

       Opposing coaches are starting to tell recruits that Nick Saban is nearing the end of his coaching career. I’m sorry, I don’t see it that way. Given Saban’s current health and vitality, there is no reason why the NCAA’s best college football coach cannot coach for another decade. I have recently talked with two potential recruits who told me that an opposing recruiter said that Saban can’t coach forever. No one can coach forever. Saban can set records that might never be broken. That's a kind of forever.

      Saban is only 67 years old and seems to be in perfect health. Despite his love for Little Miss Debbie’s, he takes care of himself. He is in good shape, shows absolutely no sign of diminished mental sharpness, and I’d strongly suspect he has some goals to reach before he retires. A lot of fans say he wants to win another national championship. I bet he wants to win several more. I see no reason why he can’t. Why do I say that?

1. Head coaches are the CEO of big businesses. While Saban still likes to have a hands-on approach with players, he has the knack of finding great assistant coaches who can teach the game. In fact, keeping assistant coaches may be the toughest problem these days for Coach Saban.

2. Players flock to Alabama because Nick Saban and the University of Alabama is the gold standard of college football. If you say that Alabama is a football factory that would be as slight to what Saban and his Alabama head coaches have built. Alabama is head and shoulders above any football program in the history of college football. There are some constants in life - death, taxes, and Alabama football.

3. Sixty-seven years of age is the new fifty-seven years of age. You can rest assured that all Alabama coaches get the best medical attention that money can buy, and Alabama has a lot of money. Not only do people live longer, but the retention of vitality is greater now than a generation ago.

4. Nick Saban sends more young men into the ranks of financial success than any other coach in the NCAA. Gary Daniel’s CBS analyst said that Alabama has seven players projected to be drafted in the 1st round in the NFL this season. That’s just the first round. NFL coaches know that if a player comes from Alabama they are ready to play in the league.

5. Alabama pays its strength coach $500,000 annually. Let that sink in. Saban knows and understands the value of service. When Tide players hold up four fingers at the start of the final-quarter they know they have earned the right to do that. Saban has a method to win. But his method is unlike anything seen before. Today, coaches all over the nation try to emulate Nick Saban. Some are more successful than others. The remarkable career of Nick Saban was the marriage of his coaching style and Alabama. It has been a perfect fit. The fans argue about whether Coach Bryant or Coach Saban is the greatest coach in Alabama history. Both are the greatest. They merely coached in different eras. Some of us are lucky to have seen both coaches.

6. Saban has so defined his method of leadership he has named it the process. It is actually a cognitive thinking pattern. Rather than focus on one big goal, Saban has chosen to prepare his team by having dozens of smaller goals. Each player has certain things they need to do better. The Coach constantly talks about the decisions his players make and how each decision determines the success or failure of a player. The more players that buy into the process making good decisions will make each man a better player. The more players making good decisions will lead to success for the team. The process is not just giving players instructions to reach a specific plateau. The player is given an individual goal and then understands that thinking properly will lead to the fulfillment of each individual goal. Do what you need to do each day. Do the drills correctly and understand that even seemingly trivial decisions can affect the larger team goal. Saban motivates his players by acknowledging that staying in the process is the only goal a player needs to make. Keeping players in the process also reduces stress and tension on the coaching staff, and the players. All Saban asks his players to do is reach an attainable goal that differs for each player.

      All of these things point to a man who will continue coaching as long as his health and motivation are intact. Success breeds success. I’m betting he coaches until he has had enough. Only Saban can determine when that will be. I bet he is nowhere near the end of his career.