Does Nick Saban Wear Shoe Inserts?

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It's pretty easy to find Nick Saban's height: Saban was a defensive back for the Kent State Golden Flashes for the 1970, 1971, and 1972 seasons and also played for the baseball team in 1972. Every year and for both teams, his height and weight were listed at 5-foot-6, 185 lbs. So he's about three and a half inches shorter than the average American male—ha ha, Nick Saban is short.

But here's where the plot thickens: Saban sure doesn't look 5-foot-6 when he's photographed next to other, taller people. There have long been rumors that Saban wears shoe lift inserts, the monument to male vanity that is to shortness what toupées are to baldness: people joke about it on Twitter, people have reported it from in-person interactions, and some people have even been fooled by the maneuver.

So let's go to the tape. It's tough to find images where both parties are standing to their full height—I don't think I've ever stood to my full height in my life—but with a little margin for error, it looks as though Saban's lifts give him about 3 inches, in line with the tallest you can buy.

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