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re: ESPN Article: Now We Know Why Saban Retired...
Posted on 3/6/24 at 9:26 am to thatthang
Posted on 3/6/24 at 9:26 am to thatthang
If you scroll down the page, there's another article where they interview 12 former assistants about Saban. Some pretty interesting anecdotes.
Here's one from Kiffin.
Here's one from Kiffin.
quote:
THE WEEK BEFORE the 2016 national championship game, Saban abruptly cut ties with Kiffin, who was his offensive coordinator and playcaller for Alabama's semifinal win over Washington. Saban had Sarkisian, then an offensive analyst, call plays for the title game against Clemson; the Tigers would beat the Tide 35-31 on a last-second touchdown. Kiffin had been named Florida Atlantic's coach a few weeks earlier, and Saban didn't feel Kiffin was fully invested in his duties at Alabama.
After Saban retired, Kiffin said he reached out to reiterate what he has told Saban almost every time he has seen him since that parting.
"I just told him that I appreciated him so much, and as I look back now at any issues we had between us, they were 100 percent my fault," Kiffin said. "I didn't see it at the time, but I see it now.
"It's a lot like being a parent. You don't always understand when you're a kid and your parents are telling you things, but then you get older and have your own kids, and you're like, 'OK, now I get it.'"
Kiffin said he apologized for being so difficult, but that Saban was very gracious and talked about what a good run they had together -- three SEC championships, three College Football Playoff appearances, one national title and a 40-3 record, including a 26-game winning streak to end their three years together.
"I would have really struggled with myself as an assistant coach at that stage, and I told Coach that," Kiffin said. "Now I'm the head coach, and I see that. Yes, I would have liked me on game day because there was a lot of success and all the plays that we created. All that stuff would have been great, but always questioning things, wanting to know why and arguing back. ... I don't think I would have put up with it as a head coach."
This post was edited on 3/6/24 at 9:29 am
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Posted on 3/6/24 at 9:46 am to PurpleandGold Motown
quote:
Some pretty interesting anecdotes
quote:
WHEN SABAN CONTRACTED COVID-19 during the 2020 national championship season, he had to quarantine at home. But that didn't mean he missed practice. He was there -- just not physically.
Saban had Alabama officials set up cameras so he could watch practice from home via Zoom.
"We know he's watching practice from home, and after practice, we bring it up [in the middle of the field] like we would if he was there. It was just routine," said Marshall coach Charles Huff, who was Alabama's running backs coach at the time.
As the team gathered, Saban's football chief operating officer, Ellis Ponder, rolled a 19-inch television set on a stand onto the field in the indoor practice facility. Saban addressed the team on video just as he would have if he had been there in the flesh.
"And at the end, he holds up his hand and goes, 'One, two, three,' and everybody yells, 'Team,'" Huff said. "It was like 'Saw,' the movie where the little TV rolls in, and boom, that doll pops up and gives you instructions."
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