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Nick Saban is arguably the greatest head coach in college football history. The Alabama leader has won seven national titles, six of which have come with the Crimson Tide, while posting a career mark of 285-69-1.
His work ethic is second to none, and it shows on the field. On the rare occasion that he does get some free time, though, you can be sure where to find him.
If he’s not roaming the sidelines in Tuscaloosa, he’ll be on the links. Saban is an avid golfer, having previously played courses like Augusta National and TPC Sawgrass.
He’s a frequent flyer in Pro-Am and charity tournaments, often taking his team out to the course to enjoy and learn about the sport. And as you’d imagine, he can never stop coaching.
Last week, a former Alabama staffer talked about a particular instance of the head coach taking his staff out on a golf outing. It’s a wild story of the extreme measures Saban will take to avoid missing a tee time.
Tyler Siskey has worked in coaching, recruiting, and player personnel at a number of stops around the southeast. He’s been on staff in some capacity at Ole Miss, South Alabama, Arkansas State, Northwestern State, and Troy.
In 2013, he joined the Crimson Tide staff as associate director of player personnel. On his McCready & Siskey podcast, he recently shared his ‘Welcome to Alabama’ moment.
we just get Coach Saban to golf on time pic.twitter.com/uTLVGZq3Ff
— BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) June 23, 2023
“We’re going to Kiva Dunes to play in a golf tournament, and we have a staff meeting at 7:30am in Tuscaloosa,” Siskey said. “I figured, ‘Hey, we need to get out of this meeting at 10:15 at the latest or he’s going to be p—ed,’ because he’s going to be late for the golf tournament, the press conference, the whole deal. Kirby [Smart] comes to me and goes ‘Hey, look, you have your bag packed and you have it by your door. When he says it’s time to go, grab your bag and run to the parking lot.’ I’m going, ‘Are you serious?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. You’ll understand. Trust me.’”
Kiva Dunes is around a five-hour drive from Tuscaloosa, for reference’s sake.
“At 10:57,” Siskey continued, “One hour and three minutes before tee time in Gulf Shores, Alabama… [Saban] has his reading glasses on and takes the reading glasses off real nice and calmly and goes, ‘Alright boys. I told ’em we wouldn’t be late. Let’s go.’ And when he said that the room scattered like cockroaches with the light on. I mean, grown a– men running down the hall and he never broke stride. He is as calm as day. Just got up, went to the office, and just starts walking down the hall. We get out there to the parking lot and there are two vans, and a guy goes, ‘Offense over here, defense over here.’
“They had a police escort that got us through town that took us straight on the runway. There were two jets cranked up. Not on the taxiway, on the actual runway. We got on, 23 minutes later we landed in Gulf Shore … I hit my first golf ball at 11:57. Sixty minutes exactly from sitting in the staff room to hitting my first golf ball.”
There’s a lot to take in, here.
First, does anyone have more pull in the state of Alabama than Nick Saban? I mean, personal jets and a pair of police escorts just to make a quick golf trip? Insane.
Second, talk about composure in a high-pressure situation. As fellow coaches scurried through the Alabama football building, Saban stayed calm, cool, and collected on his way out the door.
I would’ve hated to see what happened had one of those staffers made him late for the tee time. We’ve all seen more than few Nick Saban a– chewings on the sidelines, coaches included.
There is one thing we can all take away from the story. Nick Saban takes his golf seriously.