Nick Saban eats the same thing every day to save brain power
Despite being a four-time national champion and two-time AP National Coach of the Year, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is one of the most polarizing figures in college football.
GQ Magazine's Warren St. John profiled Saban in the September issue and the piece contained more than a few revealing passages. Here's what you need to know:
Saban complained that winning the national championship cost him a week of recruiting.
Given that his golf buddy had just won the national championship, [Steven] Rumsey figured he ought to say a few words of congratulations. So he did, telling Saban his team had pulled off an impressive win.
"That damn game cost me a week of recruiting," Saban grumbled into the phone.
Why recruit then, Nick? Complaining about winning a national title is as "humblebrag" as it gets.
Saban says he's misunderstood, but his wife understands why some people call him the devil.
St. John asked Saban about the perception that he is menacing in press conferences and toward his players.
"It used to upset me," he says. "I would come and say to my wife, 'I'm not like that at all. Why do these guys say I'm that way?' And she would say, 'You ever watch yourself in a press conference?'
When your own wife says that, ouch.
And yet Saban, now entering his seventh season at Alabama and soon to be a grandfather, insists that the caricature of him as Lucifer in a headset no longer applies.
"I think I'm pretty misunderstood, because I'm not just about football," he tells me. "I'm kind of portrayed as this one-dimensional person who—this is everything to me." He gestures toward the football building around him. "I almost feel like I'm not that way at all."
Fans and the media only see the football coach side of Saban. It's entirely possible that he agreed to do the profile in order to show that he's more than the Beezlebub caricature we've come to know.
Saban eats the same things every day, because variety would be a waste of time.
For breakfast, he eats two Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies; for lunch, a salad of iceberg lettuce, turkey, and tomatoes. The regular menu, he says, saves him the time of deciding what to eat each day, and speaks to a broader tendency to habituate his behaviors.
Saban's rigid schedule isn't too surprising. He's one of the most successful head coaches of all-time.
What is surprising is the notion that those extra few minutes would be better spent in some other, more productive, way.
"Right is never wrong."
It seems obvious, but that's Saban's philosophy. It's one he applies to all aspects of his life. He believes that there is only one way to do things: The right way.
Saban tells St. John a story about buying a piano back when he had very little money. His wife wanted to buy a cheap model outright, but he refused. Instead, they bought a nicer model with monthly payments. It took the Sabans three years to pay it down.
Saban won't let his players bend over during practice.
The 61-year old head coach controls every single detail of his practices, including his players' posture.
Former Crimson Tide offensive lineman Barrett Jones, now with the St. Louis Rams, explains.
"When you're running and you're exhausted you really want to bend over," Jones says. "They won't let you."
Saban and the Crimson Tide open the 2013 season, and their quest for a third consecutive national championship, on Saturday against Virginia Tech.