re: ESPN Article: Now We Know Why Saban Retired...

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Some pretty interesting anecdotes

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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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