You can call him Nick, but ‘GOAT’ fits Saban better

At least a dozen or so media members called Alabama’s Nick Saban “Nick” during his half-day appearance at SEC Football Media Days on Wednesday. This is fairly significant after Jackson State’s Deion Sanders walked out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s virtual media day Tuesday because a reporter addressed him by his first name.

“Hold on, now. Let’s back up. You don’t call Nick Saban, Nick, so don’t call me Deion,” Sanders said to Jackson Clarion-Ledger reporter Nick Suss.

“I call Nick Saban, Nick,” Suss replied.

“No you don’t, no you don’t. That’s a lie,” Sanders said, smiling and chuckling at this point. “If you call Nick, ‘Nick,’ you know you’d get cussed out on the spot. So don’t do that. Treat me like Nick.”

“OK, Deion,” Suss said, and Sanders immediately removed his headphones and walked out of the room.

This came up as Saban and Alabama made their media rounds at the Wynfrey Hotel on Wednesday. Saban shrugged it off.

“I answer to just about anything,” the Crimson Tide’s 15-year coach told reporters. “And I’ve been called just about everything.”

Actually, “GOAT” is the term used for Saban most of the time these days. That’s as in the acronym for “greatest of all time.”

And there is pretty much no denying that anymore. After securing the national championship this past season, Saban has led Alabama to six national titles since 2009 and is the only coach in the “college football poll era” to win seven national championships overall. He, of course, also won one as the head coach at LSU in 2003.

That is one more than Bama’s legendary coach Bear Bryant, who won six national titles between 1961-79.

This, more than anything else, is why Saban was making his 19th appearance at SEC Media Days, which is second only to Steve Spurrier’s 22 while coaching at Florida and South Carolina. Dan Mullen has the second-most appearances of active SEC coaches with 12 between Florida and Mississippi State. Georgia’s Kirby Smart is next at five.

That takes into account that none of them made an appearance last year. SEC Media Days, scheduled to be held in Atlanta were canceled because of COVID-19.

Saban on Wednesday revealed the secret to his success. “I think that’s simple. You’ve got to win,” he said.

Easier said than done. But that’s what makes Alabama’s run under Saban so impressive.

The Crimson Tide are expected to be picked as the runaway favorites to win the SEC again this year when media voting tabulated later this week. That’s despite losing six first-round picks and 10 players overall to the NFL draft. It’s despite again losing several assistant coaches to other jobs. That’s despite returning just three offensive starters.

“That’s why rebuilding is a tremendous challenge,” Saban said. “That’s why it’s difficult to repeat. … We’re going to be a work in progress.”

We’ve certainly heard that before. But there is a lot to be done with Alabama this year, particularly on the offense. The Tide lost their coordinator, Steve Sarkisian, to Texas, where he’s the Longhorns’ new head coach. And that’s not to mention Heisman Trophy-winning receiver Devonta Smith, running back Najee Harris, big-play slot receiver Jaylen Waddle and quarterback Mac Jones.

As ever, the Tide appear to have done a good job finding replacements. Saban brought in longtime NFL head coach Bill O’Brien to oversee the offense. Former No. 1 recruit Bryce Young, who hails from the same Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif., as Georgia’s JT Daniels, is expected to take over at quarterback. And, in addition to the return of 900-plus-yard receiver John Metchie, the Tide brought in Ohio State transfer Jameson Williams along with some of the most elite receiver prospects in the country.

The narrative remains that Bama will be just fine.

“It definitely happens because of all the work we put in, how committed we are and the sacrifices we make in the offseason,” said Metchie, who was second on the team last season with 55 catches and six touchdowns. “I think that’s why the results continue to look the same. I definitely think it’s because of the atmosphere and the culture and just the standard of all the guys buying in.”

On the flipside, the Tide are expected to field their best defense since 2017. In addition to returning eight starters, they added what many publications have labeled as the top transfer-portal acquisition of the offseason in former Tennessee linebacker Henry To’o To’o.

The schedule shouldn’t get in the way. Bama opens versus a decent Miami team in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game Sept. 4 and has a rare trip to Florida on Sept. 18. But otherwise an Oct. 9 road trip against expected Western Division-contender Texas A&M looks to be the biggest obstacle between Alabama and another SEC Championship game appearance.

Like everybody else, Saban and Alabama are having to deal with the new realities of name, image and likeness, immediate transfer eligibility and a post-pandemic landscape. How that may affect them, Saban said he didn’t know because there’s “no precedent, no experience” to go on.

But while Saban will turn 70 in October, he said he plans to coach the same way he always has. That could be bad news for the rest of the league.

“Nothing really has changed from a culture standpoint for us,” he said. “... We’ll focus on improvement and consistency in performance. That usually leads to success.”