The well-chronicled friendship between Nick Saban and Joe Manchin will be inked into history later this year when Saban pens the foreword for Manchin’s upcoming memoir.
According to the Associated Press, the new book, “Dead Center,” will be a “handbook to governing” from the famously centrist Democrat.
“Senator Manchin combines eyebrow-raising, never-before-told stories from inside the Senate and the White House with insights into how government does — or doesn’t — work,” Manchin’s team wrote to the AP in a statement.
Perhaps Saban can pull from his later years in college athletics to give further examples of big institutions that don’t really work.
Both the seven-time NCAA champion football coach turned ESPN analyst and longtime U.S. Senator hail from 1950s West Virginia, where they grew up together in Farmington and became friends through their close families. Manchin was an idol to Saban, whom the retired Senator once called a “little brother.”
Manchin’s father helped Saban become a football coach, and Manchin himself is the godfather of Saban’s son, Nicholas Jr.
Now, Saban is giving back by writing the intro to Manchin’s grand statement on a contentious 15 years in Washington. For years up to and through the Biden administration, Manchin served as a moderating tiebreaker vote for the liberal wing of the Senate’s policy goals. As a Democrat in the red state of West Virginia, he performed his centrism well.
While readers may look to “Dead Center” to understand why Manchin constantly hindered his party’s efforts, one thing that appears to need no evidence is his close relationship with Saban.
As the legendary football coach moves onto his next chapter as a panelist on College GameDay, he gets a chance to say his piece about a lifelong friend and very important man.
