Louis Riddick played under Nick Saban in Cleveland when the now-retired Alabama head coach served as the Browns’ defensive coordinator. At that time, Saban’s coaching techniques were so rigorous that Riddick thought about giving up the sport entirely. Nevertheless, Saban was using the opportunity to test Riddick’s loyalty and dependability. When Riddick earned it, it was an incredible feeling.
During a conversation with his colleague Kevin Clark on ESPN’s This is Football with Kevin Clark podcast, he described the feeling as “liberating.”
“When you got on the football field, if you just do what he tells you, you’re probably going to win,” Riddick told Clark. “When you lose, it’s because you didn’t do something that he told you.”
While reminiscing, Riddick remembered when he interviewed for the general manager position with the New York Giants in 2017. However, the Giants ultimately chose Dave Gettleman, who had previously served as the general manager for the Carolina Panthers for six years before returning to the Giants organization.
“I thought I was damn close to getting it,” the ESPN analyst said. “I called Nick. And I asked him, ‘Would you come back to pro football and coach?’ And he said, ‘Just get the job first, and we’ll talk.’ That was gonna be the guy who I was going to tell Giants’ ownership that you have to do everything you can to get him back to pro football because I respected him that much.”
So @LRiddickESPN and I talked about what Nick Saban taught him. About playing with your eyes. How to read offenses. Incredible.
Louis wanted him as coach if he got Giants GM. "He said 'Just get the job first and we'll talk.'" 👀👀👀
A great appreciation of a legend: pic.twitter.com/EOl7FRnHHA
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) January 18, 2024
Riddick and Clark agreed that Saban, the former Miami Dolphins head coach, could succeed in the NFL if he had been in the right situation. Saban admitted that he returned to college football because he felt he couldn’t control his destiny in the NFL.
Saban’s failure to get the quarterback position right with the Miami Dolphins was mainly due to the team doctors. With a bit more momentum in the right direction, Clark believes that Saban, who won six national championships across a 17-year tenure in Tuscaloosa, could’ve gone on a run in the NFL.
“If Nick Saban gets Drew Brees instead of Daunte Culpepper in Miami, he probably goes on a run and wins multiple titles,” Riddick said. “But his doctors told him, ‘Nah, we shouldn’t do this.’ Drew goes to New Orleans; the rest is history.
“But to go to the Giants, one of the most storied franchises of all time, in New York? I’m not gonna speak for him — and this is pretty big for me to say — but considering the fact that he told me, ‘Look, just get the job, and then we’ll talk,’ and that’s all he said. He didn’t say no. Could you imagine what that would’ve been like for me? How cool that would’ve been? So, yeah, Nick is a certified bad*** — certified.”
Riddick said he once saw Saban call games with no play sheets, nothing. And there Saban was making adjustments, even though it was all in his head.
“He’s legit,” said Riddick. “He deserves everything that people say about him right now as being the greatest of all time.”
Riddick viewed the potential partnership with Saban as more than just a professional collaboration. For him, it was an opportunity to reunite with a coach who pushed him to his limits and helped him realize the importance of commitment and sacrifice.
While Saban may now be firmly entrenched in Crimson Tide lore, the ‘what ifs’ of his potential NFL return with Riddick by his side linger. The thought of Saban potentially coaching the Giants may make some fans uneasy, considering the team’s disappointing record under Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge (19-46 from 2018-21).
