Alabama Coach Nick Saban’s time at the microphone at SEC Media Days always feels like a State of the Union address. Saban often uses moments like these to address the game’s biggest issues, often eschewing a look at his team in favor of a philosophical discussion about the role of coaches, the direction of college football or the latest social issues.
Saban nearly filled the bingo card of standard topics on Wednesday, but dropped a few interesting nuggets about the quarterback situation and the potential for a truly nasty defensive line in Tuscaloosa. Below, we’ve included Saban’s thoughts on five hot topics.
1) In satellite camps:Sure! Satellite camps have been a thorn in the side of SEC coaches this offseason with Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and other Big Ten coaches invading Southeast territories. Saban spoke out against the camps earlier in the year and reiterated his stance Wednesday.
“I just think it didn’t really upset me. I don’t agree with it. I think we have a recruiting calendar that clearly sets out times when you can be off campus recruiting. This is not a time when you can be off campus recruiting. We don’t think, in our league, that this is a time when we should be off campus recruiting. If other people are allowed to do things, then I think it’s important that we all have a level playing field. So whatever the decision is about satellite camps, whether I’m for it or against it or our league is for it or against it, I’m more for the same rules governing all Power Five conferences because we’re not just playing in our league now, we’re playing in a playoff at the end of the season. The people that are playing in that playoff should all be doing so with the same ability to recruit on or off campus or whatever it may be. I think in the NFL they do a really good job of making sure everybody has a level playing field. I think that’s the same way we should try to operate in college football.”
2) On discipline:This is where Saban starts to sound like a motivational speaker. In fact, I’m pretty sure I heard this same definition of discipline from a speaker at a leadership conference. Maybe Saban was in the room too.
“To me, discipline is, ‘Here’s something I know I’m supposed to do but I really don’t want to do. Can you force yourself to do it? And then there’s something you know you’re not supposed to do but you want to do. Can you stop yourself from doing it? That’s the kind of decision-making that creates a moral compass for all of us.”
3) On Alabama’s defensive front in 2015: Some real football! This is where Saban broke away from his role as college football’s spokesman and let fans have real football discussions.
“Defensively, we have a lot more experience, a lot more veterans coming back. We’re going to have a really good stretch and I think it’s important that the defense doesn’t give up the kind of explosive plays that we gave up at the end of last season. And I think it’s also important that if we’re going to be a non-huddle team like we were last year, we have to manage the season better with our team, because I think at the end of last season we were a little out of gas. We ran more plays, I think 170 on defense, which is two or three more games. And our players showed that. So we’re going to have to do a better job of keeping our team where it needs to be so we can finish strong.”
4) On domestic violence:Saban was again asked about domestic violence in connection with Jonathan Taylor, the former Georgia defensive lineman who was accepted to Alabama before another domestic violence accusation led to his dismissal from the program.
“We do not condone domestic violence or any violent behavior toward women at all. I think it’s a very, very complicated emotional issue. It’s against the law, and we respect the law and we’ll continue to do things that respect the law and our organization. I think we should create, because it’s a complicated situation, we should create as many opportunities as possible to try to address this issue and use this as an opportunity to try to address this issue with young people, men and women, because it’s a pervasive issue in any emotional relationship. I would be very supportive if, as a league or as an institution, we did those kinds of things to better address this in the future. As for Jonathan Taylor, and I’ve answered this question before, I don’t regret giving players opportunities. It was an opportunity that we gave to a player that didn’t work out, but to be fair to the player, he didn’t really get the kind of due process before he was judged the way he should have been. But that’s the way it is, we’ve all moved on, he was zero tolerance and so we’ve moved on. We don’t condone that kind of behavior in our program.
5) On the Confederate flag:In addition to domestic violence and satellite camps, the off-field topic of the week was the coaches’ opinions on the Confederate flag. Steve Spurrier had a more direct connection to the issue of removing the flag from the Capitol in Columbia, but Saban was also asked for his opinion.
“Any time we have a symbol that is mean-spirited or doesn’t represent equal rights for all, I’m not in favor of that symbol representing anything that we’re involved in. I don’t decide what the governor does or what our university does. It’s just my opinion on how I feel about symbols that aren’t positive when it comes to human rights and equal opportunity for all.”
