WATCH: Nick Saban impersonator tells story of meeting Nick Saban

Celebrity impersonator Joey Mulinaro has become well known for his ability to mimic not only Nick Saban’s voice, but his mannerisms and speech patterns in video recreations of hypothetical events. Whether acting out a congratulatory retirement call with Ed Orgeron or post-national championship conversation with Kirby Smart, the videos always go viral.

In his time impersonating celebrities, Mulinaro has created a celebrity status of his own. He has met with and impersonated several big names to their faces over the past several years and now regularly makes appearances across social media and sporting events alike.

However, for the first time in a while, Joey Mulinaro found himself star struck on Tuesday night after his first face-to-face encounter with Nick Saban himself.

In a video posted on Twitter, Muliaro shared his experience talking with one of the celebrities who helped make him famous.

“I was nervous,” Mulinaro started. “I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of cool people and talk to a lot of cool people, but this is the first time in a while that I’ve been really star struck and nervous because coach Saban was right there.”

Joey Mulinaro meets Nick Saban

As Joey Mulinaro prepared to meet Nick Saban, he was unsure of how the coach would react. After all, most of his impersonations focused on his no-nonsense approach and stoic demeanor.

It happened and I wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way 😆 pic.twitter.com/wA0IgbrdfE

— Joey (@JoeyMulinaro) February 2, 2022

“I didn’t know how he was going to react,” Mulinaro continued. “I told the crowd that, I said, ‘I don’t know if he’s seen it, I’m pretty terrified.’ Anyways, let’s get to it. He walks off stage after it’s all done. I’m standing there, waiting. Kirk Herbstreit does a great job, everybody does a great job. I say, ‘coach, hey, Joey Mulinaro. Nice to meet you.’ He shakes my hand and goes, ‘yeah, well, a’ight,’ and walks out.”

It remains unclear whether Saban’s comedic response, which made even Mulinaro laugh, came because he knows Mulinaro’s work and wanted to have some fun or if the impressions are simply that accurate to what the coach’s conversations sound like every day.

Perhaps the only person who could, or at least would, reveal the truth behind Saban’s conversation mannerisms is current Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. While it is not out of the realm of his normal social media and press conference etiquette to speak about his former boss, there is no guarantee even he can crack the code.