Nick Saban's Arrival at Alabama Brought Anxiety, Rumors and a Different Mindset

Crimson Tide players didn't know what to expect from their new coach in 2007, but heard horror stories about his offseason program and his my way or the highway mentality

Dec 31, 2021; Arlington, Texas, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide players and head coach Nick Saban celebrate after winning the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the 2021 Cotton Bowl college football CFP national semifinal game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

It was shortly after the 2006 Independence Bowl when Mike Johnson got the news. 

The Crimson Tide lineman was visiting his sister in Texas while the University of Alabama was still on break when he found out Nick Saban was the new Alabama football coach. 

ESPN showed highlights of Saban during the announcement, but there was one that stood out. It’s a clip from Saban during the Miami Dolphins training camp in 2005 where he ripped into rookie Manuel Wright and made him cry. 

“I just remember thinking, ‘Well, that’s not going to be good.’ That guy didn’t look like he was having much fun,” said Johnson, who played from 2006-09. 

Johnson was right. It wasn’t much fun to be an Alabama player in Saban’s first season with the Crimson Tide in 2007. 

“It was hell,” Johnson said. 

They heard all the rumors the day Saban was hired: Saban is tough, demanding, scary and he’s all about discipline. The team, more familiar with the laid-back style of former coach Mike Shula, got a wake-up call with Saban. 

“Some of those stories started getting leaked after he was at Alabama and a lot of them were confirmed after he was at Alabama,” said former Crimson Tide center Antoine Caldwell, who played from 2005-08. 

“The thing I remember everyone talking about before he got to Alabama was his fourth quarter program. That’s when we started looking around at each other like, ‘Oh boy, we better get ready to go.’ It was nine weeks of all out, brutal work. He was up front about it. He said, ‘Hey, there will be some guys that won’t make it. This is going to weed some people out and you will be better for it.’” 

Saban was right. Some players didn’t make it and left. That was by design. If Alabama was going to be a serious contender in the SEC and on the national landscape, the mindset and some of the personnel had to change in Tuscaloosa. Saban was the one leading the charge. 

Pretty much everything the Crimson Tide players heard about the fourth-quarter program was true. 

“When I met with him, I told him I want to do whatever I have to do to win,” said former tight end Preston Dial, who played from 2007-10. “That was just before the offseason conditioning program started. He nodded his head and said, ‘Don’t forget that in the coming weeks.’ He put us through a program that determined who wanted to be there and who was there just to put on a jersey.” 

Players knew of Saban’s track record for success at Michigan State and leading LSU to a national title. They also heard stories about Saban’s stern demeanor and his short fuse on the practice field and in the film room. 

Dial said Saban was more married to the program and the game itself. Saban wasn't someone who was going to force some relationship with a player on the team. At least not in the first few years. Dial said Saban expected the players to bond with each other instead. At least that’s how it ended up playing out. 

“We were told that he was guarded and he was all about the process,” Dial said. “The crazy thing to see was the relationship he would strike up with some players later while I was there. Once the process was in place you could see he really did want to have those relationships. He couldn’t allow himself to do it until we understood what the expectations were and what the cost of winning looked like. He couldn’t have those relationships until he had a team that was willing to do those things.” 

Caldwell reached a similar conclusion. The rest of the world knew Saban as gruff, as someone who went off on rants with the media and someone who didn’t have joy. They didn’t get to see Saban inside the practice facility or him hanging out with players in a non-football setting at the lake and his home. 

The Crimson Tide got to see the real Saban. 

“I think about how compassionate he was for not necessarily the player you were, but the man who you were becoming,” Caldwell said. “I didn’t really know he had that kind of depth to him. We had conversations where he was interested in your family and your life after football and helping develop you in other areas. When he came here, I just heard that he was a maniac about football. To be successful you have to have that mentality about you, but after being there with him for two years, what surprised me the most was how he was about the development of the man and the person.” 

Johnson got a taste of that special relationship early. His mom called him up one day and told him she was in Tuscaloosa, which was a four-hour drive from him hometown in Pensacola, Florida. She wanted to meet with Saban. 

“I was so embarrassed and said please don’t do this,” Johnson said. 

She did. 

Johnson’s mom just wanted to get an idea of who Saban was. Shula was the one who recruited Johnson and she was familiar with him. So she went into Saban’s office and got to know him. 

“Later that day, (Saban) walked up to me while we were stretching and said, ‘Hey, I met your mom today,’” Johnson said. “I said I was so sorry and I didn’t know what she was thinking. He said he thought I was transferring and, ‘I’m glad you are not going anywhere.’ He turned around, smiled and said, ‘You know, we all have moms.’ He was kind of saying to me, don’t be embarrassed. It is what it is and moms are that way. 

“I chuckled because this is a guy I haven’t seen smile in the last month because he’s so businesslike. It was kind of my bonding moment with him. That’s when he won me over.” 

A few years after seeing that highlight of the Miami player who Saban made cry, Johnson was being interviewed on the field following Alabama’s national title win against Texas in the Rose Bowl. He was asked by a reporter what the secret was for the Crimson Tide’s 14-0 season. 

“The secret was there wasn’t a secret,” Johnson said. “It was literally just hard work. That’s the one thing Saban always hammered home. He always says there are no shortcuts, no secret sauce. If you want to be good, you have to do the right things all the time. With the confetti falling down around us all I could think of was, ‘He’s right.’” 

 This is the fourth story in a multi-part BamaCentral series looking back at Alabama’s coaching transition in 2007 as the Crimson Tide prepares for a new head coach in 2024 with Kalen DeBoer.

First story: What It’s Like When Alabama Football Gets a New Head Coach

Second story: Former WR Matt Caddell Looks Back on Alabama’s Last Football Head Coaching Change

Third story: 2007 Alabama Football Provided a Glimpse of Something Special