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The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban. John Talty.

 


The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban.    John Talty.

How Alabama’s Coach Became the Greatest Ever.  

Although Legendary football coach Nick Saban left the coaching field at the end of the 2023 season, it seems as though he is as ubiquitous now as he ever was when walking the gridiron as a head coach for more than 20 years.   The recently released “Saban” docuseries and his weekly appearances on ESPN’s Saturday morning gameday feature the former Alabama coach prominently.  In addition, there is no paucity of literature discussing the coach and his successful coaching experiences. Of course, one can learn more about the coaching style and philosophy of Saban by reading John Talty’s 2022 book The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban.   While I only learned of this book recently it seemed to coincide nicely with the coach’s omnipresence in the media today. 

Talty, co-author of The Price, collects and evaluates the many leadership traits and qualities of Nick Saban’s coaching style in this manuscript. Topics include building the team, delegating duties, dutiful preparation, being honest to a fault and one of the better-known principles that urges his players to trust “The process”.   Talty goes into some detail explaining how Saban meeting with an unassuming, and distinguished looking, professor of human psychology at Michigan State University (in the mid 1990’s) helped to change the mindset of looking at the end result (winning the game) but instead focusing on the steps to help build a better team through practice, planning and player execution.    It seemed to be a turning point in Saban’s head coaching career where he preached the goal of getting better each day to perform at optimal levels rather than simply doing enough to win the next contest. The success of his fifth and final season with the Spartan’s catapulted his career and legacy as he took a highly coveted job in the Southeastern conference.

Perhaps the most interesting section of the book talks about how coach Saban helped himself and his program by augmenting former head football coaches to rebuild their careers.  Now this happened long after Saban had taken over head coaching duties in Tuscaloosa, Alabama but demonstrated a willingness to adapt, experiment and change the way he did his business but also the way the profession had viewed hiring so-called flawed coaches, even though Saban and Alabama were in the middle of dynasty run.  In a chapter titled “Use staff turnover to improve”, Talty covers a wide array of former coaches that decided to practice their craft under the principles governing the Alabama football program, as directed by Nick Saban, naturally, in hopes of getting another chance to be a head coach again.   Most notably discussed in this section, and throughout the book, are current LSU coach Lane Kiffin (the main topic of Talty’s newly published Lane being Lane) and current Texas coach Steve Sarkisian although several other recognizable names such as Bill O’Brien and Mike Locksley are addressed as well.    It was also interesting to note how many prominent assistants served under Saban, too, at either Alabama or LSU, earlier in the century, before launching their own successful careers including Kirby Smart at Georgia and Charles Huff presently the head coach at Memphis.

Other notable topics include how Saban turned what he initially thought as a nuisance task in having to talk to media members into a positive.    It was noted by the author how Saban used the platform provided by the media to send messages indirectly to his players where once he famously referred to distractions as “rat poison”, which is now commonly used by other coaches when referring to mindsets detrimental to the team.     Saban had a reputation for not being satisfied with any accomplishments.   It has been widely reported that the West Virginia native held a staff meeting just twelve hours after winning a collegiate national championship.   The thinking, as explained by Talty, was to avoid complacency which seemingly put more fear into Saban than some of his former SEC opponents.   In fact, Saban reportedly lamented playing games late in the post-season because he worried about losing recruiting time and falling behind chief rivals.

An opus of two hundred and twenty-five pages, The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban is fairly easy to navigate.   Although Saban did not personally participate in the development of this book, nevertheless, it contains several interesting stories, quotes and coaching examples.   Numerous contributors from other coaches, administrators, players and commentators are cited to support the points made by the author.  Other than the fact this book is heavily about Nick Saban and his way of doing things, that is everything, there is little to criticize.    It is fair to say that this book is better engaged by sports fans and those that have an interest in unique but successful leadership capabilities.         

 

Suggested discussion questions:

What makes Nick Saban so successful?

How much of his upbringing shaped and influenced his coaching style?

Which one of the “secrets” mentioned by Talty stood out to you? Why?

Why did former head coaches agree to be assistants under Nick Saban?

What form of leadership deployed by Nick Saban is likely most important to running a successful college football program?

How might Nick Saban have been successful in other fields and professions?   

 

You might like to read this book if you are a fan of Nick Saban.

You might like to read this book if you are an Alabama football fan.

You might like to read this book if you enjoy reading about college football coaches.

You might like to read this book if you are a determined College football fan.

You might like to read this book if you relish stories and examples of Leadership.

 

Read more about the author on X:  https://x.com/JTalty


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