Rece Davis praises Nick Saban's 'phenomenal' work on ESPN College GameDay: 'He's all in'
Nick Saban isn’t only excellent behind the clipboard. During an appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis revealed what it’s been like working with the former Alabama head coach.
“He’s been phenomenal, Paul,” Davis said. “The thing that I’m not surprised by, but very impressed by, is the level of his engagement. He’s in our meetings during the week, and we’ll talk to him aside from the meetings.
“He’s all in, constantly learning, always wanting to be great and be perfect. And not one time has he come across in such a way that he’s like, ‘Hey, look at my seven championship rings and everybody listen to me.’ He would certainly have the résumé to do so and the credentials to do so if he wanted to. But he hasn’t approached it that way.”
There are few men who understand college football better than Nick Saban. After taking over at Alabama in 2007, Saban led the Crimson Tide to six national championships, including three titles in the College Football Playoff era.
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While Davis believes Saban would like for his co-hosts to just treat him as another voice at the desk, he claims they’d be mistaken to not defer to Saban’s wisdom from time to time.
“We’d be foolish if we didn’t take advantage of the fact that he has coached so recently and, obviously, the credentials and so forth,” Davis said. “It’s rare that a show gets a coach of that magnitude, who stepped away at the height of his game, and then comes into television and is such a gifted communicator that he can do it in all walks of life.”
Saban retired in January after narrowly falling to Michigan in the CFP semifinals. Less than a month after his retirement, Saban announced he would be joining ESPN’s College GameDay as an analyst. Now, fans around the country enjoy hearing from the college football legend every Saturday.
Davis has relished the opportunity to be a part of Saban’s next career step.
“He’s been tremendous on tape, obviously, but I think the one thing, Paul, is he’s been extraordinarily candid,” Davis said. “I’ve worked with a lot of coaches in the past who have been very reticent to say things that might even be perceived as the least bit negative toward anybody else.
“He has a really good way of putting things that aren’t bashing people or bashing programs, but stating the truth of what where they are and how they need to get better if they want to be a contender. I’ve been really, really pleased and impressed with the way he’s been able to jump on that.”