1. In late 1989, Urban Meyer called Nick Saban to ask for a job. Saban had just been named Toledo's head coach; Meyer was born in Toledo. With Saban finishing an NFL season as the Houston Oilers' secondary coach, his wife Terry took the call. "I just talked to a really interesting guy," she told her husband, who never called Meyer back. "Obviously a mistake on my part," Saban called it. Said Meyer: "I was a grad assistant at Illinois State making $6,000 and trying to decide if I should stay in (coaching) or get out." Told that Saban expressed regret, Meyer laughed. "I'm sure he does; I'm sure that's really on his mind right now." (For the record, the dream pairing wouldn't have lasted long. Saban coached Toledo for a year before becoming the Cleveland Browns' defensive coordinator.)
2. Saban doesn't do email. Speaking at Tuesday's media day, Saban confessed that he doesn't deal in emails or text messages. "A lot of our players can't function unless they're in constant communication with a lot of people," he said. "I see value in communication, but not just sending something somebody can read. That's not a personal touch." Then this:"Terry and I go away for a weekend and we come back and she has 387 emails. She spends the next day answering 387 emails. I spend the next day doing something productive. I never get any emails. If you don't send any, you don't get any." Then this concession: "I do get text messages and I do read them. I just don't know how to send them back."
3. Meyer doesn't like being upstaged. Toward the end of Ohio State's media session, Ohio State tight end Jeff Heuerman joined him on the dais carrying a microphone from an Ohio TV station. Heuerman sought to "interview" his coach, who played along for a couple of questions and then said, deadpan, of Heuerman: "He's from Naples. He took a visit when I was at Florida and I never even shook his hand. He was far too slow to play for us."
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