Nick Saban’s approach to dealing with his staff apparently isn’t that dissimilar from his approach as a parent.
That came up during Saban’s press conference at SEC media days on Wednesday, part of a lengthy response from the Alabama coach after he was asked about his reputation as a difficult coach to work under.
“None of this is easy,” Saban said. “I think when you're in a position of leadership and you're trying to make people be accountable and responsible to a standard that's going to help you continue to have success that sometimes you have to make people do things that they really don't want to do that may be in the best interest of the overall organization. So am I willing to do that? Absolutely. So you have to make a choice and decision: You want to do it right? Or you want to make everybody happy?
“No different than raising your children. I go through this with Terry when we're raising our kids. She wanted to make them happy, and I wanted to make them do right. So I don't know. I like for them to do right and be happy doing right. That's what I'd like for them to do. And that's the same thing I like for our coaches.”
The question was relevant Wednesday as Saban gets ready to enter another season with several new coaches after having to replace seven of the 10 assistants from last year’s Alabama staff.
Saban doesn’t necessarily agree with that reputation, though.
“I don't know,” Saban said. “You have to ask some of the people that work for me. Always interesting that, you know, they may say that, but then when they get a job and they go do it, they do it exactly like we did it. So I don't know.”
Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.