Nick Saban reveals how Kalen DeBoer, Alabama can get back on track
By Nick Kelly | NKelly@al.com
Nick Saban provided a handful of coaching wisdom Friday for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama football amid the turmoil following a season-opening loss.
Saban made his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, almost a week removed from DeBoer’s loss to Florida State 31-17 on Saturday in the season opener.
“I think you’ve got to be positive and show the players when they did it right, here’s the success we had,” Saban said. “When we didn’t do it right, when it even was one player didn’t do it right, maybe that’s why they had success.”
Saban, having spent 17 years at Alabama, also understands the pressure under which DeBoer is working. Expectations are “really high” among Crimson Tide fans, Saban noted.
“You need to protect your players from that and give them a different way to compete in the game so they’re not looking at the scoreboard,” Saban said, “they’re not worrying about the outcome, they can stay focused on the things they need to do to compete in the game for 60 minutes and play one play at a time so they’re not worried about that.”
Saban said Alabama players, everywhere they go, hear how they’re expected to win. That was especially the case during the height of Saban’s dynasty in which he won six national championships.
“You can’t let that creep in and that anxiety about being outcome oriented affect their performance,” Saban said.
The former Alabama coach also stressed the importance of self-assessment for DeBoer.
“I know he is reaching out to a lot of people trying to do that,” DeBoer said. “Hopefully they get it turned around this week and develop some confidence on this team so they can move forward in a positive way.”
Alabama will face Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday (6:45 p.m. CT, SEC Network) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
McAfee said Alabama shouldn’t just give up after one bad game to start the season.
“Yeah and I think that’s the way the players should think, the way the coaches should think,” Saban said. “They’ve got to stay focused on what they need to do to teach and get better and create roles for the players on the team and how they can support the team.”
Nick Saban has clear message for Bill Belichick after blowout opener
Bill Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history by many metrics. In college football, that honor belongs to Nick Saban. They each have an interesting case to be the best football coach ever. Now, with Belichick in college and Saban enjoying retirement, the former Alabama coach has a message.
He saw, like the rest of the sports world, how dreadful Belichick’s UNC tenure began last Monday evening. It was the worst defensive effort Belichick has ever gotten from any team at any level, and it has the foundation shaking. Saban thinks that he “must” win this week to steady the ship.
“I think the most important thing is that you win with people,” Saban said on the Pat McAfee Show. “You’ve gotta have a good roster and you’ve got to have an opportunity to develop that roster.” Saban admitted that getting there late like Belichick did hurt, and his roster-building was “behind the eight-ball.”
That creates a problem, but the on-field product has to be better, too. “The tackling on defense wasn’t very good, obviously the turnovers for two scores wasn’t very good and there are a lot of things they need to work on and improve on,” Saban said.
