It was a muggy morning in the summer of 2007 — I had done my best to clean up my house to make it look respectable. It may have been 6:15 a.m., but as I sat alongside Paul Finebaum, TV cameramen and technicians, I was nervous about our special guest who was about to walk into my kitchen.
Newly-hired University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban had agreed to visit my home and take part in several live segments on a morning TV program at the station at which I worked. We called the segment “Karle’s Koffeehouse,” but it may as well have been called, “The Haunting.”
Why?
Because from all that I had heard, Coach Saban was going to be a dead ringer for Freddy Krueger.
And Finebaum? As he waited to meet the coach, while appearing a bit psycho, he was indeed nervous, expecting to cower more than Jamie Lee Curtis in “Friday the 13th.”
Suddenly, he was standing next to us, and this five-foot-nine, 165-pound coach looked to us as frightening as Michael Myers. Would we receive a trick or a treat from the Alabama football coach?
It is indeed appropriate that America’s scariest coach was born today, 68 years ago.
That’s right, Nick Saban was born on Halloween in the year 1951 — and today, two years before he turns the big 7-0, he continues to scare the mightiest of coaches as he consistently pads his Bama coaching record of 149-21.
Just how scary is Chucky — I mean, Nick?
He’s won five national championships in his 12-plus seasons in Tuscaloosa. He’s never lost to Tennessee. And Saban’s former assistants who have become head coaches? The Alabama coach continues to strike fear in every one of them, as they are winless against Coach Saban in 19 combined attempts.
Why has Nick Saban lost so many of those assistants down through the years (he started the 2018 season with six new assistants)?
The obvious answer is that the team’s success results in a wide variety of opportunities — after all, what head coach out there would not love to have a Saban assistant join their staff? The other reason? Not every assistant fits into the Saban process: Grueling meetings, long hours and a demand for perfection.
Assistant coaches who work for Saban need to be a rare breed. Does their time in Tuscaloosa, however difficult, turn them into better coaches and better organizers? Of course, and those assistants who better deal with their own fears are better men for it. Let’s face it– it’s Nick’s way or the highway.
Case in point? Nick Saban is a man of habit, and if you don’t like those habits, get on out! Two Little Debbies and a black coffee for breakfast. Departing for work at 7:15 a.m. each day. A staff meeting at 7:30. Lunch consisting of crisp lettuce with turkey and tomatoes. More meetings, practice, etc…. if you’re not buying in, hit the road. On your way out, go ahead and call him a monster – that monster will be piling the points on your future team very soon.
If you are an Alabama football player? You may as well be shivering, because when the coach pulls you into his office and shuts that automatic door from the remote at his desk, nothing short of an exorcism will be coming your way, and you may find yourself shaking in your cleats. The good news? Those players who buy into the process and fight through their own “Nightmare on Elm Street” often find themselves off to the NFL, where practice is a snap.
After shaking Coach Saban’s hand back on that summer day in 2007, the coach welcomed Finebaum to my living room — and before our first live TV hit arrived, I witnessed him in an intense conversation with the Mouth of the South. The coach was simply laying the ground rules for a media type that carried a lot of weight in the business. Was Paul scared? I never asked, but I believe that I did see his one hair stand up.
Before Coach Saban left my house, something interesting had transpired: After talking with the coach about his lake house, his interest in The Eagles and anything other than football, I found that the coach had turned into a pussy cat! The coach made us smile while handing out coaching tips on my front lawn and later had us in stitches as he ribbed Chef Bernie Tamburello, who we had invited in to cook breakfast. I truly believed that Nick Saban was having fun — perhaps that’s why we continued our annual breakfasts for years to come.
Yes, the man born on Halloween does have a soft spot — those who believe otherwise are ingesting the rat poison offered up from Saban’s worst critics.
Yet to Crimson Tide players, fans, opposing coaches and of course the media, the most frightening person on Halloween (and the other 364 days of the year) is a man named Nicholas Lou Saban, Jr., the Ghostface of college coaches — the man born on October 31, 1951. Isn’t it all so appropriate?
Rick Karle is a 24-time Emmy winning broadcaster and a special sports contributor to Yellowhammer News. He is also the host of the Huts and Nuts podcast.
