Nick Saban jokes about bloodshot eye, other coaches stepping up to yell

After Alabama gave up a late scoring in the first half against LSU on Saturday night, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele apparently got into his unit some at half time. And discussing Steele’s fiery moment on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban had a joke at the ready.

Saban has been sporting a bloodshot right eye for a number of weeks now, the result of a burst blood vessel. And the likely exertion that caused it: Saban yelling at his players for something.

“I don’t know if you saw my eye, but my eye’s all red. So I went to the doctor and he asked, ‘Are you coughing? Are you sick?’ and all that. He said, ‘Well, it must be from yelling.’ So, I guess I do like the relief of other people sort of getting on players when they need it. Not in a negative way but in a way that is inspiring to them and gets them to play better,” Saban said.

And the intense moment from Steele wasn’t necessarily the norm from the defensive coordinator.

“He’s pretty soft spoken most of the time, but I think when he does get on somebody or say something, everybody listens,” Saban said.

Saban praised the whole Alabama operation for continuing to improve

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide have been answering early-season doubts with their impressive play as of late, most recently defeating No. 14 LSU in dominant fashion 42-28 over the weekend.

Major changes occurred all over the place for Alabama this offseason, highlighted by hiring new offensive and defensive coordinators and trying to find a new quarterback to replace a lineage of seven straight seasons with an NFL Draft pick under center.

There’s no question there was a bit of an adjustment period for the Crimson Tide to start the season given their changes, with head coach Nick Saban receiving high praise and many calling this season one of the best coaching jobs of his career. But when he was asked about his team’s growth this season, he gave all the recognition to others.

“I think the credit goes to the coaching staff and the players,” Saban said. “This group of guys have shown tremendous resiliency to keep working to improve. I think they trust the coaches.”

Their early-season blunders came with a certain level of concern and doubt from Alabama fans and outsiders, but since that game, Alabama has won six straight games versus SEC opponents. The Crimson Tide remain undefeated in conference play and sit atop the SEC West division standings, showing improvement every single week and looking more and more like their dominant teams of the past thanks to the buy in from their players.

“They respect what we’re trying to do to help them be better players and it’s resulted in a team that has consistently improved throughout the year and we just gotta try to keep trying to do that,” Saban said. “We got a lot of guys nicked up today, but hopefully it’ll be an opportunity for somebody else to step up.”