Nick Saban on the keys to success: 'If you want to be the beast, you gotta do what the beast do'

Nick Saban knows what it takes to be successful. The Alabama head coach has seen plenty of success during his coaching career, including six national titles since arriving in Tuscaloosa in 2007.

But the best way to describe Saban’s mentality comes from a speaker he brought in to speak to the Crimson Tide players this offseason.

“We had one speaker come here and showed the biggest Tiger I’ve ever seen,” Saban said during his Wednesday press conference. “It took up the whole screen. And he said, ‘Everybody wants to be the beast. But everybody don’t want to do with the beast do.’ So if you want to be the beast, you gotta do what the beast do.”

When Nick Saban builds up his players to be successful on the football field, he’s also trying to set them up for success in their lives off the field. Some of those lessons came up in his press conference, including how he wants his quarterbacks to learn from mistakes.

He also pointed out some questions people should ask as part of the secret to success.

“I think everything I’ve talked about here today is something that can help you be successful in life,” Saban said. “You have goals and aspirations for what you want to accomplish and do. And then, you’ve got to have an awareness of what does it take to do that? What does it entail for you to be able to accomplish these things? That’s what I call the process, the definition of what you have to do to accomplish the goals that you have. And are you willing to do it? Are you willing to do those things? Do you have the discipline to execute it every day? That would be true in anything that you chose to do. And then, there’s work ethic, perseverance, ability to overcome adversity, pride in performance.

“All these things are common things that we talk about athletics, but it’s the same thing if you wanted to be the president of the company. But again, what motivates you to do that? Is it coming from within you? Or did somebody tell you you couldn’t do it, so now, all of a sudden you’re motivated to do it? So it’s basically who you are. And I think everybody wants to do well. Everybody would like to be successful. Everybody’s not willing to do the things you need to do to be successful.”