Nick Saban Quotes & Sayings

Focus on the play like it has a history and a life of its own. — Nick Saban

Anyone who doesn't win their conference has no business playing in the national championship game. — Nick Saban

It's not human nature to be great. It's human nature to survive, to be average and do what you have to do to get by. That is normal. When you have something good happen, it's the special people that can stay focused and keep paying attention to detail, working to get better and not being satisfied with what they have accomplished. — Nick Saban

We're not going to talk about what we're going to accomplish, we're going to talk about how we're going to do it. — Nick Saban

Success doesn't come from pie-in-the-sky thinking. It's the result of consciously doing something each day that will add to your overall excellence. — Nick Saban

The roster that we have today may change tomorrow. It is what it is for right now. — Nick Saban

Discipline is not punishment. Discipline is changing someone's behavior. — Nick Saban

Soccer is a continuous game, rugby is a continuous game, but for the physical elements that are involved in playing a football game and the number of plays that you play, I don't know that it was ever intended to be a continuous game. — Nick Saban

What happened yesterday is history. What happens tomorrow is a mystery. What we do today makes a difference - the precious present moment. — Nick Saban

Our goal is to work against things we have not seen that we will see in the near future. — Nick Saban

If you don't get result-oriented with the kids, you can focus on the things in the process that are important to them being successful. — Nick Saban

You can't get from A to Z by passing up B. — Nick Saban

I've always been able to stay focused on trying to recruit good players and trying to develop those players. — Nick Saban

One thing about championship teams is that they're resilient. No matter what is thrown at them, no matter how deep the hole, they find a way to bounce back and overcome adversity. — Nick Saban

High achievers don't like mediocre people, mediocre people don't like high achievers. — Nick Saban

Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people. — Nick Saban

Do what you do and be who you are. — Nick Saban

A good process produces good results. — Nick Saban

The thing that concerns me the most is when I hear that people are making a lot of money a lot of ways except for the athletes, whether it's on the bowl games, the TV contracts, the conferences, the schools, the coaches, however you want to say it. — Nick Saban

I think everybody should take the attitude that we're working to be a champion, that we want to be a champion in everything that we do. Every choice, every decision, everything that we do every day, we want to be a champion. — Nick Saban

College football is the only game in the country, of any kind, that the college game is longer than the pro game. — Nick Saban

I'm tired of hearing all this talk from people who don't understand the process of hard work-like little kids in the back seat asking 'Are we there yet?' Get where you're going 1 mile-marker at a time. — Nick Saban

When you play against good people, that's when you focus your concentration. Your sense of urgency to be disciplined in your execution all become more critical. Sometimes you get away with doing things not quite right against lesser competition, but when you play against real good people that's when it shows up. — Nick Saban

We have got to use every opportunity to improve individually so we can improve collectively. — Nick Saban

Your character is your accumulation of your thoughts, habits and priorities on a day-to-day basis. — Nick Saban

We have to compete within ourselves relative to the determination it takes to be successful. — Nick Saban

It doesn't matter what you are ranked until the end. — Nick Saban

There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you'll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment. — Nick Saban

There is no continuum for success. Focus on the progress, not the results. — Nick Saban

I don't like to lose. I don't expect to lose. — Nick Saban

People who are role models for the principles and values of the organization, who buy in and understand the vision of what the organization is trying to accomplish, and have the personality to inspire other people to the vision. You know, that's what team chemistry and leadership is all about. — Nick Saban

I don't control what people put on dot-com or anything else. So I'm just telling you there's no significance, in my opinion, about this, about me, about any interest that I have in anything other than being the coach here. — Nick Saban

I've never considered joining Twitter, nor do I know why anybody would. — Nick Saban

The process is really what you have to do day in and day out to be successful, we try to define the standard that we want everybody to sort of work toward, adhere to, and do it on a consistent basis. And the things that I talked about before, being responsible for your own self-determination, having a positive attitude, having great work ethic, having discipline to be able to execute on a consistent basis, whatever it is you're trying to do, those are the things that we try to focus on, and we don't try to focus as much on the outcomes as we do on being all that you can be. — Nick Saban

Eliminate the clutter and all the things that are going on outside and focus on the things that you can control with how you sort of go about and take care of your business. That's something that's ongoing, and it can never change. — Nick Saban

Now, everybody always says there's no 'I' in team, but there is an 'I' in win, because the individuals make the team what it is, and how they think and what they do is important to the team. So when you act like the individual is not important, well, it is damn important who these people are and what they are. — Nick Saban

I don't care what you did yesterday. If you're happy with that, you have bigger problems. — Nick Saban

I think I'm pretty misunderstood, because I'm not just about football. — Nick Saban

To be a great player, you have to
affect the entire unit. — Nick Saban

I don't know that there's any particular scientific evidence that you could say, more guys get hurt in this offense versus that one, or hurry-up, or whatever, but everything that we've ever done in the NCAA is about exposure. How many exposures does a player get? — Nick Saban

We have three kinds of guys on our team. We have guys that get it; they play good; they understand how to play winning football. We have some guys that are trying to get it, and they are working hard every day? We are supporting them, and we want the guys that have it to support them. Then we have some guys that don't get it and don't know that they don't get it. We are trying to replace them. We only have a couple left. — Nick Saban

Focus on the process of what it takes to be successful. — Nick Saban

In the NFL you get one first-round draft pick if you're lucky. You couldn't really outwork anybody else. In college I could recruit ten players with first-round talent every year. — Nick Saban

It's about how the players play and compete. I know everybody is going to equate that on winning or losing, like they always do, but if we play hard and compete well in the game .. then I think we are building on something. — Nick Saban

I asked my priest if it was a sin to play golf on Sunday. And he said, "It's a sin for you to play anytime." — Nick Saban

I don't think it's about who you play, I think it's about who you are. — Nick Saban

The more one emphasizes winning, the less he or she is able to concentrate on what actually causes success. — Nick Saban

I don't think I'm complicated at all. I'm not political, and I'm not trying to be diplomatic. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, and I don't say bad things about people. There is no agenda. There's no trying to fool somebody. — Nick Saban

I'm not going to be the Alabama coach. — Nick Saban

Be on time because it shows you care. — Nick Saban

Becoming a champion is not an easy process ... It is done by focusing on what it takes to get there and not on getting there. — Nick Saban

Be all you can be in whatever you choose to do. The sky is the limit, so go for it. And do not create any self-imposed limitations. — Nick Saban

When you invest your time, you make a goal and a decision of something that you want to accomplish. Whether it's make good grades in school, be a good athlete, be a good person, go down and do some community service and help somebody who's in need, whatever it is you choose to do, you're investing your time in that. — Nick Saban

Any team that does not win it's conference championship game should not play in the BCS title game — Nick Saban

The number one thing on any team that will keep your players from being selfish is respect for the other players. — Nick Saban

You can't win together if you don't work together. — Nick Saban

The formula for success is every guy can make a difference for the entire team in whatever his role is. And to do it right, to get it right, is a critical factor in being successful. — Nick Saban

Teaching is the ability to inspire learning. — Nick Saban

What makes Freddy Krueger such a horrible character? What makes him scare you to death? You can't get rid of the guy. He never goes away. — Nick Saban

Live by the creed that a strong work ethic, playing by the rules, and doing things the right way will bring about opportunities for success and, ultimately, happiness. — Nick Saban

The difference nowadays is that when I go on vacation I work some of the time rather than all of the time. — Nick Saban

I think everybody makes mistakes. People do things that they regret. — Nick Saban