Saban’s deal allows him to avoid podium

Published Sunday, June 17, 2007

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Alabama’s Nick Saban is a football coach, not a pitch man. His domain is the football field and film room, not the podium and banquet circuit.

It’s in his contract. Right there on page 11.

The Crimson Tide coach knows, after all, that he’ll be judged on wins and titles rather than speeches and commercials, anyway.

"Here’s what everybody needs to understand: Why did I get hired here? To do what? Coach football, right? I’m a coach," Saban said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.

It’s why his eight-year, $32 million contract, approved by university trustees on Thursday, stipulates that he doesn’t have to make more than 15 appearances a year at alumni gatherings and other such functions. Don’t expect to see him in commercials or on billboards either.

Saban said he had a similar limit in place at LSU and other stops. It’s why he chose to recruit and hire a staff instead of saying yes to many of the 100 or so requests for appearances that poured in during his first two months on the job.

"It’s a full-time job to run this football program and the guys that are on this team and get them to all do what they’re supposed to do," Saban said. "I think that’s what people expect.

"How many public appearances can you do? How many commercials can you make?"

It’s a trade-off most Alabama fans will accept, even if they’d love a little bigger slice of the $4 million-a-year coach’s time.

"This is the way I’ve always done it," Saban said. "I do it because I know what my priorities are. I know what’s important to being successful."

He also knows that his hiring in January raised expectations for a team that went 6-7 last season and hasn’t had sustained success in a decade.

Saban did, after all, lead LSU to a Southeastern Conference championship in his second season and a share of the national title two years later.

Saban has had some highs and lows during the six months since he left the Miami Dolphins.

The biggest high: 92,000-plus fans filling Bryant-Denny Stadium for a spring game, believed to be a national record for what essentially amounts to a scrimmage.

The lows: He was roundly criticized in Miami for leaving a couple of weeks after vowing, "I’m not going to be the Alabama coach."

"I was forced to make statements that I shouldn’t have made relative to our future, and I was criticized for it," Saban said. "And rightfully so. I did it. I don’t want to have grudges, and I do care what people think."