Is Old Man Saban growing soft as he reaches 72?

[jbcarol]

What was Nick Saban's 'most humiliating' defeat?

By Greg Garrison |

He unleashed one on Thursday morning when he was the headline speaker at the Irondale Mayor's Prayer Breakfast:

"This has been very inspirational today, but I must admit to you that it's not always been that way," Saban said. "If you remember back the first year we were at Alabama, we lost to ULM."

Saban had just taken a seat onstage with Irondale Mayor James W. Stewart after a series of clergy had offered prayers, and he began with an anecdote.

"You may not even know what that stands for – University of Louisiana-Monroe," Saban said. "It was the most humiliating defeat, maybe of my entire coaching career."

Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe 21-14 on Nov. 17, 2007 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa in front of 92,138 fans.

"I think we had five guys suspended by the NCAA," Saban said. "We had three more suspended for disciplinary reasons. We played horrible in the game. I was almost ashamed of how we represented the university and the program. We fumbled the ball six times. So, we ended up getting beat in the game. Everybody's disappointed. Fans are disappointed.

"Coaches are disappointed. Players are disappointed. But when you're the coach, you have to win the locker room after the game and try to inspire the guys when they didn't perform very well. Then you have to go to the press conference and explain why you played so poorly. Then you have to go to the recruiting room and tell recruits that it's not really going to be this way in the future.

"So, then, after all that, after all that humiliation, I get in my car to drive home, and I don't have any gas in the car. So, now I've got to stop at a self-serve, put some gas in the car, and I used to wear my LSU National Championship ring.

"So, I go to pay the guy, and the guy says, 'Wow, what's that ring?' And I say, that's a National Championship ring. And we're going to do the same thing here at Alabama.

"And the guy looks at me and says, 'We'll never do it as long as that Nick Saban is coach.'"

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Likes talkin' the weather

James Spann reveals a Nick Saban passion after coach pays him ultimate compliment

By Mark Heim | 

Follow @ChrisMcCulleyTV
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Nick Saban on who he gets his weather reports from when traveling and hitting the golf course: @abc3340 @spann

" I call James Spann and say what's the weather look like in Dallas? I don't want to get caught in any thunderstorms and he's always right on."

An endorsement from Nick Saban goes a long way in these parts.

Not that James Spann needs one.

The well-known meteorologist for ABC 33/40 had his name dropped when the former coach was telling reporters he has been traveling recently.

He always contacts Spann when he hits the road or the links, apparently.

When reached about the high praise, Spann shared that Saban, 72, is quite the weather enthusiast.

"The one cool thing about coach Saban is he's really a weather guy," Spann told AL.com. "I mean he loves weather. If you are going to be a college football coach, you are going to have to know a lot about it. It's kind of like being a pilot.

"He really has a good basic knowledge of science, and he understands the limitations of what we can do and what we can't do. ... I like people like that because he totally understands what we are trying to communicate."

Spann works closely with the University of Alabama, and its coaches when it comes to conditions for games, travel and more.

"Normally, for (basketball) coach (Nate) Oats, it is travel," he explained. "They play indoors, so basketball is mostly flying in and out of places.

"But coach Saban, it is everything from travel to football to anything else."

But is Spann always right with his forecast as Saban indicated?

"He's being too kind," the meteorologist said.

[jbcarol]

Nick Saban has harsh words for internet trolls

By Lee Roop | 

Retired Alabama football coach Nick Saban unloaded on trolls this week in his latest blunt statement about his challenges as a coach —

"It amazes me that some guy sits in his basement, probably in his mom's house, probably in his underwear, probably overweight and he puts something on the Internet and anybody cares about what he thinks," Saban said.