Detailing how Nick Saban always remained ahead of other programs

Alabama did not stand at the forefront of college football for nearly two decades by fluke.

It was a meticulous plan from the now-retired Nick Saban to stay ahead of the game by keeping the Crimson Tide in tune with the current landscape of college football. On3’s Andy Staples explained the two qualities that kept Alabama on top for so long.

“Adaptability. The other is getting 18 to 22-year-olds to perform in a consistent manner over and over and over again,” Staples said on an appearance on Pardon My Take. “But the adaptability piece, especially when you’re talking about coaches that make this kind of money that gets Godded up like nobody’s business — they’re worshipped. That would make anybody say, ‘Well, I’m right. I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing.’

“But he always was looking at, ‘what is somebody else doing that they might be doing better than me? What can I change to make myself ahead of the curve to make sure that I never fall behind?'”

Staples began a story about a one-on-one encounter he had with Saban in his office in 2017 before the Iron Bowl. Staples asked when Saban could see himself hanging up his headset and Saban gave him a pretty straight-forward answer:

“I will leave before I am content to watch it go down,” Saban told Staples.

One week removed from a College Football Playoff semifinal berth that resulted in a loss that was decided on the final play of the game — and Saban was content to step away. He didn’t want to have a sunset period akin to Bobby Bowden’s later years at Florida State.

“He wanted to dominate till the end, right,” Staples continued. “And so I just think he always was trying to stay one step ahead.”

Staples guest hosted Saban’s radio show in 2012 right before Alabama lost to Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel. You remember the game. According to Staples, Saban predicted every single thing Manziel would do that day, basically predicting that Alabama would lose.

“It was 100 percent correct,” Staples said. “But on the sidelines that day, [Saban] had linebackers who weighed 220-ish pounds, and they’re looking at the Alabama linebackers — these are official visitors high school kids — and they’re looking at the Alabama linebackers that didn’t go [into the game]. They were thinking, ‘Hmm, I don’t — other than CJ Mosley — I don’t really look like any of them. Those guys are like 250 pounds.’

“And the coaching staff is like, ‘Yeah, coach [Saban] wants us to get smaller linebackers so we can deal with offenses like the one you’re about to see.’ He was already planning on how to deal with that.”

Saban continued to adapt until the very end, dipping his recruiting prowess into the transfer portal while guiding the NIL charge in Tuscaloosa that has helped compensate so many of his recent Crimson Tide athletes.

Now, he passes to baton to Kalen DeBoer — who has an incredible track record of coaching winning football. He is tasked — and expected to — continue the tradition of keeping Alabama the standard of college football for years to come.