Regardless of the industry, Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban is simply one of our greatest leaders. This weekend I was cleaning out some old files and discovered a 2019 National Championship pregame feature on the legendary coach.
As I watched the program, I gleaned Just 11 Of The Reasons Nick Saban Is Such A Great Leader. All quotes are from Coach Saban unless otherwise noted.
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because Legendary Great Coaches Respect Him – “One of the best coaches he ever worked with.” – Bill Belichick on what his father Steve thought of Saban while on Navy’s staff. For a similar post, click 11 Reasons Why Bill Belichick Is Such A Great Head Coach.
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because Of The Confidence People Have In Him – “Because it’s the most important one. Someone to run the defense and someone I had confidence in.” – Belichick on Saban being his first assistant coach hire with the Cleveland Browns after interviewing 85 potential candidates.
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Clearly Communicates His Expectations And Then Holds People Accountable To Those Expectations – “I never thought it was hard working for Bill because you knew exactly what he expected.” – Saban
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Keeps Everything In Perspective – “It really isn’t any different. It’s still a game.” – Saban on his approach to championship games
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Can Focus Better Than Anyone – “Better than anyone I ever met in my life.” – Belichick on Saban’s ability to focus
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Keeps Everyone Else Focused – “It seems like there’s a lot on the line but you have to focus on what you have to execute to do your job.”
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Keeps Everyone Focused On The Right Things The Right Way – “We’ve already talked about it so hopefully our guys will be focused the right way.”
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because Other Great Leaders Want To Work And Play For Him – “Things changed at Alabama because of one guy – Tua.” – Desmond Howard. For more on Tua, read 11 Quotes And Lessons On The Faith And Leadership Of Alabama Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because His Teams Are Consistently Great – “There’s a tremendous amount of respect because they won’t go away and we won’t go away.” – Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Senses And Seizes Opportunity – “Alabama has scored 18 touchdowns on their opponents’ 21 turnovers.” – Lee Corso
- Nick Saban Is A Great Leader Because He Creates A Winning Culture – The one overarching theme in every comment above is Saban’s ability to create and sustain winning cultures.
What is one thing you learned from the list above which you can implement which will make you a better leader today?
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