We are called to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. In the state of Georgia where I live, we are left to live with another close loss to iconic Head Coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. However, we could not be happier for backup quarterback Jalen Hurst who engineered a come-from-behind 35-28 victory in the SEC Championship game after being replaced in the starting lineup at the start of the season by Tua Tagovailoa.
Hurts had a 26-2 record heading into last year’s national championship game. He was the SEC Rookie of the Year as a freshman and its Player of the Year as a sophomore. However, Coach Saban made the most courageous leadership decision I have seen in sports by replacing an ineffective Hurts in last year’s national championship game against Georgia. Hurts never got his starting job back.
Now 11 months later against the exact same opponent in the exact same building, Hurts was replacing an injured Tagovailoa leading the Crimson Tide to victory. Hollywood could not even write a story this compelling.
The following are 33 Leadership Lessons From Nick Saban And Jalen Hurts On Character And Becoming A Champion I gleaned from the postgame news conference shown above. Quotes 26 through were from Hurts’s postgame interview on the SEC Network. Also, make sure you read the 33rd quote. As a parent of a college junior, I want to extend my personal congratulations to Jalen on his wonderful accomplishments.
- Champions Are Resilient – “Our players deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the resiliency they showed in the game.” – Saban
- Champions Never Give Up – “Competitive spirit. They never gave up in the game. They kept fighting.” – Saban
- Champions Have Great Heart And Will – “You can’t fault the heart and the will to win the guys played with.” – Saban
- Champions Sense And Seize Opportunity – “I told him ‘This is your time’ and he certainly took advantage of it.” – Saban to Hurts when sending him into the game.
- Champions Respect Their Opponents – “People have to give Georgia a lot of credit.” – Saban
- Champions Compliment Their Opponents – “I don’t want to play them again. That’s the best compliment I can give you.” – Saban
- Champions Manage Their Emotions In High-Pressure Situations – “We needed to get everybody settled down.” – Saban
- Champions Make The Right Adjustments At The Right Times – “Making the right adjustments. We played a little better in the 2nd half because of it.” – Saban
- Champions Focus On Playing Their Best All The Time – “We don’t look at the scoreboard. We play our best, be our best.” – Saban
- Champions Create Value For Themselves – “Be the best version of ourselves. That’s what creates the most value for us.” – Saban
- Champions Don’t Focus On The Score – “Hopefully, they play that way all the time because the score doesn’t matter.” – Saban
- Champions Are Evaluated By Their Performance – “When somebody looks at you and evaluates you as a player, they don’t put the scoreboard up. They just watch you play.” – Saban
- Champions Focus On The Technical Aspects Of Their Craft – “There’s some technical aspect to learn (during a close game) like clock management.” – Saban
- Champions Focus On What Is In Front Of Them – “We have to focus on what’s in front of us. Don’t make the game too big.” – Saban
- Champions Focus On Execution – “Don’t worry about winning a championship. Worry about executing the next block, next catch, next play.” – Saban
- Champions Score One More Point Than Their Opponents – “Our goal as an offense is to score one more point than the opponent.” – Josh Jacobs
- Champions Allow Their Work To Do Their Talking – “It feels like I’m breaking my silence. I haven’t really said anything all year.” – Jalen Hurts
- Champions Prepare For Adversity With Hard Work – “This team has worked really hard… We know what adversity looks like.” – Hurts
- Champions Are Made Up Of Players You Are Proud Of – “I’ve probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen. It’s unprecedented to have a guy who has won as many games as he won… and all of a sudden he’s not the quarterback. How do you manage that?” – Saban
- Champions Put The Team First – “You’ve got to have a tremendous amount of character and class to put the team first, knowing your situation is not what it used to be, for a guy that’s a great competitor, that takes a lot.” – Saban
- Champions Set Great Examples For Others To Follow – “This is a great example of why guys don’t need to run off and just transfer.” – Saban
- Champions Are More Successful In Life – “Jalen is going to be a more successful person in his life because of what he went through.” – Saban
- Champions Don’t Criticize Their Opponents Or Teammates Publicly – “I don’t ever criticize players in public and never to the press.” – Saban
- Champions Know It’s Not Always Good When You Play Bad And Win – “It’s not always good when you play bad and win.” – Saban
- Champions Always Recognize They Still Need To Improve – “It speaks volumes when we win and our players recognize they still need to make improvements.” – Saban
- Champions Persevere – “All I could do all year was wait on my moment and persevere through the adversity.” – Hurts
- Champions Stay Positive – “Stay positive and be uplifting to my teammates because at the end of the day I’m still that same leader to this team.” – Hurts
- Champions Love Their Teammates – “I love those guys in the locker room.” – Hurts
- Being A Champion Is Not Easy – “None of this has been easy. Since the championship game it hasn’t been easy.” – Hurts
- Champions Show Their Character By Finishing Well – “I think it shows true character and true heart, trying to fight to the finish.” – Hurts
- Champions Trust Their Abilities And Preparation – “I trust my abilities and I know there are always things I can improve on.” – Hurts
- Champions Are Always Doubted – “Being silent about all the other stuff said about me, that’s not easy. People have doubted me. People have said I should leave.” – Hurts
- Champions Are Blessed And Have A Very Bright Future – “I’m blessed enough to be graduating on the 15th… I’m blessed to be here.”
What is one thing you learned from Coach Saban and Jalen Hurts which will make you a better leader?
To receive more leadership insights from Coach Saban, click HERE or on the image to the left for my new ebook The Leadership Of Nick Saban: Timeless Truths From The Incomparable Head Coach Of The Alabama Crimson Tide. Enjoy!