Nick Saban explains how he handles coaching 'energy vampires' at Alabama

Alabama head coach Nick Saban likely has a huge selection of keys that have contributed to his sustained success in the college football landscape. And on his Thursday appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, Saban revealed one of his major principles.

Not every player arrives at college with the right mentality, and the ones that take energy away from the program are referred to as energy vampires in Saban’s book.

“We’ve had numerous what I call energy vampires,” Saban said. “You’re taking all your time trying to close this gap and you never seem to be able to effect it, and we always have four or five guys on your team that are that way. They’re very talented guys but yet they don’t seem to be able to get it right the way you’d like for them to the way that would benefit them.”

More often than not Saban is coaching players with tremendous talent and a high ceiling regarding what they’re capable of on the field, but the wrong mentality and improper focus off the field can directly impact play, and worst of all bring down other players on the team.

But Saban doesn’t combat these vampires with cloves of garlic and wooden stakes, but instead through guidance with an emphasis and focus on the mental aspect in order for athletes to reach their fill potential both on and off the field.

“But we’ve had a lot of guys, and this happens because we have a lot of help from a psychological standpoint to get guys to turn around and to be able to understand what they have to do to be a good player and they respond to it,” Saban exlained.

Saban was not willing to give names or share any of his energy vampire transformation stories, but with over 20 years of college head coaching experience and seven national championships to his name, you’d imagine that there are plenty who have developed well both on and off the field in a major way under his leadership.

“I don’t want to mention any names, but we’ve had quite a few guys, and I think one of the things that helped us be successful through the years is the ability to get those kind of guys to play well and to be consistent and develop the kind of competitive character that you need to be a consistently good player,” Saban concluded.