Nick Saban Tells Favorite Mal Moore Story on the 10-Year Anniversary of His Passing

Saban told reporters his favorite memory with the Crimson Tide’s legendary athletic director.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — 10 years ago today, the Alabama Crimson Tide community lost one of its most memorable and impactful people in the history of its athletic department and school.

Mal Moore was a quarterback at Alabama from 1958-1962. He then joined the Crimson Tide’s staff as a graduate assistant in 1964. Moore stayed with the program from then until 1982 before returning from 1990-1993. After five years as the assistant, Moore served as the school’s athletic director from 1999-2013.

He also hired head football coach Nick Saban in 2007 — one of the biggest moments of both of their careers.

Saban and Moore won three national championships together in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

“Mal Moore … really loved The University of Alabama,” Saban said. “He was here for a long, long time as a coach, as an administrator, as an athletic director. Probably the biggest reason we came here — because of the relationship he developed with Miss Terry and us. […] We certainly miss him.”

On Thursday, the 10th anniversary of Moore’s passing, Saban told one of his favorite stories from their time together.

“Mal used to always come in on Sunday when I’d be in the back room by myself watching film,” Saban said. “I usually [would] go through the previous game with coaches. I’d go to church, come in and watch [the game] with coaches before starting on the [next] team.”

“Every Sunday at about 3 p.m., [Moore] would come in and sit down. I was complaining to him about when Mark Ingram was here his sophomore year — he’d carry the ball in the wrong arm a lot. But he was having a really, really good year and we were having a good year. I said to Mal, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to get this guy to carry the ball in the right hand.’ He said, ‘When I was coaching quarterbacks here, I told coach Bryant that if [the starting quarterback] would do something different with his throwing motion, it would really make him a better passer. Coach Bryant looked at him and said, ‘Don’t mess with the guy.’ So what [Moore] was telling me [was], ‘Don’t mess with Mark Ingram.’”

“He used to tell me stories about players like that all the time. […] I enjoyed it so much. I probably didn’t tell the story very well, but it was a lesson learned. Sometimes really good players — they might not do things exactly like you want them to. But if they’re productive, you don’t need to change it.”

Saban said that was just one of many great stories from his time around Moore.

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