Everyone had high expectations for ESPN’s College GameDay “rookie” Nick Saban this year, and for good reason.
The former Alabama head coach stepped in as an analyst on the popular show, bringing vast football knowledge, charisma, geniality and a media presence honed by spending years in the national spotlight.
The 73-year-old Saban has flashed all those traits this season, earning widespread praise for his work on CGD. Yet fans watching at home may be seeing only part of the story. The Wall Street Journal‘s Laine Higgins talked to a show insider and found that behind the scenes, Saban has shown a surprising drive to improve his performance.
Matthew Garrett, the coordinating producer of GameDay, told WSJ that Saban told ESPN producers, “I’m the rookie here. I need you to stay on top of me. I want you to coach me hard. I want you to give me feedback, positive and negative.”
To that end, Garrett said Saban “calls me every week—the first thing he asks is ‘What can I do better’?”
Saban already appears to be a star on the GameDay set. He has developed great chemistry with his colleagues, notably Pat McAfee. He’s shown a penchant for self-deprecating humor, joking on a recent show that he’s the worst College GameDay picker in show history. And he’s offered great insight into college football’s changing landscape with NIL and widespread player transfers.
Yet Saban’s smooth transition to the show has been driven in part by a characteristic often missing in highly successful former coaches and players: Humility. Host Rece Davis recently praised Saban’s humility, saying “Not one time has he come across in such a way that he’s like, ‘Hey, look at my seven championship rings …”
However, Saban’s reluctance to flaunt his knowledge and be more forceful on the set has become a minor talking point, Garrett told WSJ.
“We have all been very aggressive in telling him, ‘Any time you want to say something, you say something’,” Garrett said, explaining that Saban is more animated during production meetings.
As for other advice Garrett has given Saban, it’s pretty simple.
“I spend a lot of time telling him if I had things for you to do better, I’d be more than happy to share them,” Garrett said. “But he’s very, very, very good at this.”
