Nick Saban on motivation to continue coaching: I hate seeing things done the wrong way

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban has the most enviable resume of any college coach but even at 70, he’s not slowing down. Considering he’s already captured seven national titles, it’s no surprise reporters often ask, what’s keeping him in the game?

Saban joined his former quarterback Greg McElroy on Always College Football and gave an in-depth answer to what’s motivating him to continue coaching heading into the 2022 season.

“I just can’t stand to see people not do things the right way,” Saban said. “It drives me absolutely crazy. Because my whole goal as a coach is to get everyone to reach their full potential, to be the best version of themselves that they can be, personally, academically, and athletically. It’s almost like you’re sabotaging yourself if you’re not trying to be that.

“Somebody has to create sort of a path for you to be able to, call it the process, call it whatever, for you to be able to accomplish the goals that you have and to show you how you have to edit your behavior to do it. It just drives me crazy, maybe I’m a perfectionist, I don’t know … it just drives me up a tree to see guys not do things from an effort standpoint, from a toughness standpoint, from responsibility … It creates a standard when you have that disposition. Is that what motivates me? I guess … I don’t like losing, I think you know that.”

Nick Saban is coming into the 2022 season off of a loss to SEC rival Georgia, providing an extra spark for the legendary head coach this year.

J.D. PicKell: Alabama championship defeat will motivate in 2022

Last year, Alabama came up short of the ultimate goal: a national championship. This season, Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide will be out for revenge.

Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young and Will Anderson, who finished fifth in the Heisman voting, are two players who remember what it was like on that night in Indianapolis. They saw Georgia leave Lucas Oil Stadium with a 33-18 victory and hoist the national championship trophy, and that’s something On3’s J.D. PicKell argued will stick with the Crimson Tide into this season.

“This is probably the most important absolute,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “It has nothing to do with the 11 guys on offense, 11 guys on defense. Nothing to do with the scheme, anything like that. When it comes down to this Alabama team, you can bet your bottom dollar, you can mortgage the house on it, they’re going to be motivated. You’ll say Nick Saban’s always a guy that seems motivated, they’re always ready to play. Yes, but how often is he pulling from the external circumstances? He’s pulling from the headlines, he’s pulling from the ‘rat poison,’ what this guy’s saying, that guy’s saying. [He doesn’t] need to do any of that this year at Alabama.

“All Nick Saban has to do is say, ‘Remember that scoreboard [the] last game of the year? Remember how that finished out? Y’all were finalists. Us at Alabama, we were finalists. We weren’t champions last year. We don’t do silver medals here at Alabama. The standard is gold.’”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.