Nick Saban reveals key attributes, aspirations he preferred when hiring assistant coaches

Nick Saban had a long, successful career in coaching, including being a head coach for a total of 30. One of the most important parts of that span, though, was the people around him on his coaching staffs.

Saban discussed the aspects of his various staffs through the years while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. In that, he explained why he built them with coaches who were all different from one another unlike how others constructed theirs.

“You want everybody to be different, you know,” said Saban. “Some coaches like for everybody to be the same. Even in business, I talk to these business groups and they want people to be, you know, like, cut out of the same mold. I wanted everybody to be different.”

With that, Saban thought that they were best able to manage what all comes with a team that was the size that they were working with. He’d have a coach for any given scenario and any certain player on their roster.

“You’ve got a diverse group of players that have different personalities,” Saban continued. “One of the things that I think helped us be successful through the years is we were able to get more personality types, different kinds of guys to be able to play well from a mental standpoint. You know, psychological disposition. They didn’t have it but we could create it for them and help them do it. I think that’s what helped us be successful.”

“You know, I wanted some guys to be real good recruiters. Some guys to, you know, pat the guys on the back and rub their neck. Some guys to get after them when they needed it. I mean, I wanted different guys that had different strengths,” added Saban. “Some guys had great knowledge, great experience, and were great presenters. Other guys? They could just coach technique, you know.”

However, while looking for different coaches, Saban did search for one aspect that was consistent with their motivation. He wanted those who wanted to be future coaches – which he clearly found with how far the branches from his tree now extend and how successful they are at all levels of football.

“I always look for guys that had what I call aspirations instead of needing inspiration. When you want some inspiration, that means somebody else has to motivate you to do something. When you have aspirations, that means you have goals to do something and accomplish something,” said Saban. “I wanted guys that wanted to be head coaches. If they were assistants, I wanted them to be coordinators. They’re going to learn big-picture things and contribute more to the program in more ways than just coaching their position.”

“When do you know? I think when a guy is in a position of responsibility and how they manage that – how they manage a room, how they motivate the players that they’re responsible for, the kind of discipline and how the players respond to them,” Saban continued. “I think, when you see that in a real positive way, you can sort of bet that, if this guy was a head coach, he’d be successful as well. It’s just a bigger group that you have to deal with.”

Saban deservedly gets much of the credit for what he accomplished as one of the best coaches of all time. Still, hundreds of other people were involved with those achievements too and they were as successful too because of how he put them together too.

“Everybody was a little different but it was, you know, the sum of those parts that made the staff really strong,” said Saban. “I didn’t want people that were the same. I wanted people that were different.”