Jeremy Pruitt reveals what it was like inside a Nick Saban coaching meeting at Alabama

Jeremy Pruitt worked for Nick Saban twice at Alabama, first from 2007-12 and then from 2016-17. In that time, he was in plenty of coaches meetings with the legendary Crimson Tide headman — and he opened up about what those were like.

Pruitt started out as a director of player development at Alabama from 2007-09 before moving up to defensive backs coach from 2010-12. He then had stints at Florida State and Georgia before returning to Tuscaloosa as Saban’s defensive coordinator in 2016.

He said Saban preaches honesty with his staff, and Smart tends to be the same way. Most importantly, Pruitt said Saban corrects coaches just as he does players.

“I think when you work for Coach Saban, he’s really about efficiency,” Pruitt said in an interview with DawgNation’s Mike Griffith. “One way to be that way as a coaching staff is you’ve got to be honest with each other. If you don’t agree with something, you’ve got to tell the other person, ‘I don’t agree with it’ or ‘I like that.’ … I’ve been on the bad end when Coach Saban has corrected me, but the great thing about it [is] it’s a correction. It’s no different than a player.

“He’s just being efficient, and if you don’t agree with something — and Kirby’s the same way — you talk about it. I think it’s why both of them are very successful.”

Jeremy Pruitt discusses his role in sparking an overhaul of Georgia’s football facilities

Pruitt served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator from 2014 to 2015 before taking the same role at Alabama from 2016 to 2017. He said he knew the reality of the facility situation in Athens and how it impacted recruiting, which is why he was so vocal about the need to improve.

Now, he said the program’s in a good place.

“I remember the night I actually said that,” Pruitt said. “I shouldn’t have said it, probably, to begin with. But I was just speaking from the heart and from experience of recruiting against Georgia. Kirby knows because he recruited against Georgia and we talked about it when we worked at Alabama. What facilities they have now.

“From my understanding, they’ve actually built another piece or they’re starting another piece. … From the locker room there in the stadium to the recruiting area in the stadium, I think they’ve really done a fantastic job. And Kirby’s going to continue to do that because he knows it takes really good facilities and the best players want to play for the best coaches and the people that have the best stuff.”