Nick Saban, Miss Terry take seats in Bryant-Denny Stadium suite ahead of Alabama opener
Saturday night, a new era officially began at Alabama. For the first time since 2006, Nick Saban wasn’t the one leading the Crimson Tide out of the tunnel.
Instead, it was Kalen DeBoer, who took over as head coach in January after leading Washington to the national title game. Saban was still in attendance, though, watching from a suite alongside Miss Terry.
It capped a busy day for Saban, who spent Saturday morning in College Station with ESPN’s College GameDay ahead of Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M. With a 7 p.m. ET kickoff, he had plenty of time to get back to Tuscaloosa to take his seat in the suite alongside his family.
Saban watched Alabama’s A-Day spring game from a suite, as well, but Saturday will mark his first time watching a regular-season game as a fan. It will also be the last time the Crimson Tide play a game before the field is named after the GOAT ahead of next week’s game against USF.
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Now, it’s DeBoer’s show, and Saban has spoken at length about the job he thinks his successor is doing. He reiterated that on GameDay Saturday morning.
“Kalen has done a great job taking over this program, because he’s got the right disposition about him,” Saban said. “He embraced the tradition, he embraced the culture, but he put his own mark on how he wanted to coach the team. How they practiced, how they played, what the offense was, what the defense was going to be. So I am really, really excited about what Kalen is going to do for Alabama.”
Of course, Nick Saban is also still around the Alabama program if he chooses to do so. He has an office at Bryant-Denny and, of course, a suite for games. But he made it clear he wants it to be DeBoer’s show, so he tends to stay in the shadows and avoid stepping in.
“I try to stay out of the way,” Saban said. “I did sit in the press box and watch one scrimmage, and sometimes the coaches come over and see me … I kind of back off, if he calls and asks, I’m glad to give him my opinion about something.”