Great article about Brother

This is an excellent article about Brother – Alabama football coach Nick Saban, quarterback of the 1968 Monongah High state championship team, by Rachel Baribeau, a TV sports reporter who covers the Crimson Tide.

There’s more to Saban than just being a coach

By Rachel Baribeau

He is vilified. He is criticized for his news conference rants. Years ago, he was the poster child for a controversial practice known as “grayshirting.”

But I know a different Nick Saban. I’ve seen a different Nick Saban.

When I think of Nick Saban, I think of him as a high-intensity coach, yes, but also a caring husband. One of my most impactful memories of the 2015 season is seeing him walk in hand in hand with his wife to his post-game media responsibilities.

MEETING NICK SABAN

I go back a long way with Nick Saban.

I moved to Tuscaloosa in the fall of 2009. I didn’t know a soul. I also was an Auburn graduate.

My move there was sudden. I attended SEC Media days in August when a representative from the Tuscaloosa News recognized my reporting tenacity. Three days later, he asked me if I would like a job covering Alabama football. In a matter of weeks, I was on campus. Looking back, it was a seminal moment in my career, the moment I became a bona fide, objective reporter.

I remember early on someone telling me, “Nick Saban won’t know you from Adam’s house cat.” As a newbie reporter, I was white noise. This was just the way it was and that’s the way I operated, as an unknown. I was there to do my job, sharing information and stories with my audience.

I still remember the first time I asked Saban a question that he teed off on. It was late in the 2009 season, not yet to the SEC championship game, and I used the word “reflect.” I instantly realized that was a huge no-no. He went on to light up the room, going on an epic rant. The tirade was featured on SportsCenter. I received nearly 100 calls and text messages. I was famous, sort of.

After the epic rant, though, came a thoughtful answer, one intended first for his players, then the media and public. You see, Saban always is carefully speaking to his players through the media.

Even though I was “called out,” so to speak, I stood taller, my skin a bit tougher.

I distinctly remember another news conference right before Thanksgiving that same season. Saban was peppered with football questions, but I decided to go in a different direction. I asked him what he was most thankful for that year. He paused for a moment, looked wistfully out a nearby window, then said he was grateful for “Ms. Terry” (his wife) and the opportunity to coach football.

He went on to tell the room he had a friend recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. He explained how it made him ever so grateful for that relationship, for his wife and for life.

I saw a different side of Saban that day, which I will always remember. I saw Nick Saban, the thoughtful and appreciative friend.

THANKING NICK SABAN

The Crimson Tide went onto win a national championship that season and again in 2011 while I was in Tuscaloosa. Reflecting back, I could see him settling into the role of Alabama’s football coach, a beast of a job rife with wild expectations and a rabid fan base.

All the while, this young reporter with an Auburn degree was earning her stripes in Tuscaloosa. Covering two national championships at such a young age could only be described as magical. I pinched myself on a daily basis. I still do.

Often times, we miss the lessons life tries to teach us in the moment. Not me, not at that juncture of my life. I was so serious about my role at the Tuscaloosa News, about the opportunity to cover one of the best programs in the country – and arguably the toughest coach – that I was moved to write Nick Saban an email.

August 30, 2010

Dear Coach Saban,

I hope this letter finds you well. I have been meaning to write you for some time and let you know what an impact you have on my career.

I have been in sportscasting for about seven years now; before I moved to Tuscaloosa last September, I was in Columbus, Ga., for many years honing my craft as a sports talk show host, sideline reporter, sports editor and correspondent.  In Tuscaloosa, I am the online anchor for a site called TideSportsExtra.com; we are a premium site for the Tuscaloosa News. I thoroughly enjoy what I do; I am blessed to help people tell their stories (we all have them — some just need help telling them), as well as covering practices, press conferences and games.

I want you to know that you inspire me: You inspire me to be a better sports reporter and human being. I have heard you speak many times and I like your message that says no matter what you do, be the VERY best that you can be.  I know that you expect the VERY best from your players, coaches and staff; I also believe you expect nothing less from the media members that cover you on a regular basis. Thank you for keeping me on my toes.

I do not know what the future holds for my career, but I hope that my path leads to a national job in the near future. When it does and I interview you on the sideline or for a sit-down sometime, I want you to know that I am better for having covered you and the Alabama beat. Thank you again for inspiring me; I can’t thank you enough.

Sincerely yours,

Rachel Baribeau

RachelBaribeau.com

THE SOFTER SIDE OF NICK SABAN

Saban has tried opening up previously. This from Saban himself in GQ magazine in 2013:

“I think I’m pretty misunderstood, because I’m not just about football,” he tells me. “I’m kind of portrayed as this one-dimensional person who — this is everything to me.”

He gestures toward the football building around him.

“I almost feel like I’m not that way at all.”

You’re not, Coach. I count myself fortunate to have seen a glimpse of Nick Saban the man, even Nick Saban the husband.

I realized early on during my stay in Tuscaloosa that he loved his wife dearly. I recognized that she was the backbone of the “Saban operation.” There wasn’t a week that went by in a news conference that he didn’t mention Ms. Terry. He lovingly told us how she picks out his clothes each morning. I remember him recounting a story of how she allowed him to go back upstairs and watch more film on Christmas morning after opening presents. I recall him telling the media that he thought that was the ultimate gift.

She attends each one of his post-game news conferences on the road, sitting quietly in the back of the room, listening intently.

I wish more people could see Nick Saban, the husband, as I have. If they could, I think their opinion of Nick Saban, the coach, would soften.

Saban, though, doesn’t go out of his way to show his softer side, so I will.

I never found out if Saban read my email. I vetted it through the proper channels and sent it to his “gatekeeper.” I’d like to think he did because he knows my name today. He speaks to me, shakes my hand, asks about my life. I believe him to be genuine when he does. I am no longer white noise.

If I ask a question in a news conference that he doesn’t agree with, or one he knows he can send a message through, he’ll still tee off on me. I’m OK with that.

I know this for sure: I grew massively as a reporter – and human being – during my three years in Tuscaloosa; I partly have Nick Saban to thank for that.