Former Players Share Favorite Memories, Moments with Nick Saban in Bryant-Denny Stadium

Nick Saban will be immortalized at the stadium where he won over 100 games as the Crimson Tide head coach with the naming of "Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium" on Saturday.

September 8, 2012; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban leads his players onto the field before the start of their game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Bryant Denny Stadium. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Alabama had one of the most storied programs in college football under multiple legendary, national-championship winning head coaches for decades, but it had been an up-and-down decade for the Crimson Tide with a lot of turnover leading up to the hiring of Nick Saban in 2007.

Saban restored Alabama to its former glory and took the program to new heights. He won six national titles, nine SEC championships, helped produced the program's first Heisman trophy winner (and then three more after) and dozens of first-round NFL draft picks. And as of Saturday, his name will forever be immortalized at the very venue where he won over 100 games as the Alabama head coach as Bryant-Denny Stadium will now be known as Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Dozens of his former players will gather in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night for a reception to honor their head coach and others will be on the field playing the game against South Florida. A few shared their top memories and moments with Saban inside of Bryant-Denny.

"We were at the front end of our run at Alabama based on where they ended up, but even back then he was kind of a larger than life presence," former Alabama tight end Harrison Jones told BamaCentral. "Just being around him was always impactful."

Jones played under Saban from 2010-2013. He got the unique opportunity of playing with his brother Barrett Jones in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and his younger brother Walker Jones in 2013. Saban came to the Jones' house to recruit Harrison, and a big reason why he went to Alabama was for the opportunity to play with his older brother.

Barrett started at guard, center and tackle for the Crimson Tide, and when he played at tackle in 2011, Barrett and Harrison got to line up next to each other a few times.

"That was definitely an awesome memory," Harrison said. "Just having Barrett there to show me the ropes, and we would pray together before most games."

Most of Harrison's most memorable games as a player happened outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium, like the win over Georgia in the 2012 SEC Championship game, but he does remember how the 2010 Florida game was a sort of changing in the guard in the SEC that cemented that Alabama was on its way up while the Gators were on their way out. What sticks out most in his mind from Saban at Bryant-Denny were the speeches reserved for the team in the locker room pregame, at halftime and after the victories and defeats.

"He’s as much psychologist as he is a coach because some games we would win by 30, 40, 50 points, and we’d come into the locker room afterwards and he’d just be absolutely livid about some attention to detail or that we didn’t close the game out the right way," Harrison said. "And sometimes we would would lose, and we would come in and kind of pick us up and say, ‘We played our game and did what we needed to do. We just came up short.’ That always made an impact on me that he was always trying to keep us not too high and not too loo. I think he did a really good job managing the team’s emotions that way, and it always inspired everyone to play harder and keep the right attitude when we were on top and when we were fighting from below.”

“Obviously he lives his life pretty fired up all the time in a lot of ways in terms of his intensity and his focus, but he reserved like that temper-flaring yelling– whether it was a pregame speech or whatever it was. People listen when he talks, and I think he really reserved that energy for the right moments, which is hard to do.”

For more recent players like Tyler Booker and Jihaad Campbell, the 2023 Tennessee game is a favorite memory at home. Alabama erased a 13-point halftime deficit, shutting out the Volunteers in the second half on the way to a 34-20 victory and avenging the loss in 2022. Campbell had a scoop-and-score touchdown late in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

"It was really a blessing having Coach Saban in my life," Booker said. "Not too many people have the ability to say, ‘I’ve been around and been coached by one of the greatest to ever do it.’ To have that relationship and him be a mentor to me, it’s hard to put into words. But a lot of the things that I learned from him that I added to my everyday life are lessons I’m going to take forever. 

"Like he always taught us the fun is in winning. So whenever I play video games or a board game with my girlfriend and my family, I always dominate them because the fun is in winning. I don’t like to lose. That’s one of the things he taught me."

The branches of the Saban coaching tree, even from his time at Alabama alone, are now spread far throughout college football, including four current SEC head coaches. Saban helped guys get started in the industry, rehabilitated some coaches' careers and transformed some young assistants into some of the top coordinators and head coaches in college football.

One of those coaches is current Alabama defensive line coach Freddie Roach, who worked three separate stints under Saban. After playing at Alabama from 2002-2005, Roach started as a strength and conditioning coach with the Crimson Tide for three seasons starting in 2008. He returned in 2015 as the director of player development until 2016, and he joined Saban's on-field staff in 2020 as the defensive line coach.

"Coach Saban gave me my first opportunity," Roach said. "I’m always grateful for that, and I’ve learned a lot from him. I kind of started with him, went away, came back, went away again, came back. So, he’s always treated me like his own. I didn’t have the opportunity to play for him, but very, very grateful for him. He deserves everything that’s going to happen Saturday. Tremendous, tremendous coach, even a better man, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to be a part of that."

After Saban announced his retirement in January, Alabama first publicly announced plans to honor him with the renaming of the field back in July, where it received unanimous approval by the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. At the board's annual meeting on Thursday, he was celebrated by the trustees before Saturday's ceremonies.

"This is an honor of a lifetime,” Saban said Thursday. “No doubt. I am just hopeful that this legacy of Saban Field is representative of all the people who have contributed to the success of the last 17 years.”