Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban has had it with some of the negativity among fan bases in college football.
Following a segment on ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Friday about the pressures facing Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day after his team’s stunning 13-10 loss to Michigan on Nov. 30, Saban was asked by host Rece Davis to weigh in on Day.
Saban came to Day’s defense and didn’t hold any punches.
“I think every coach has got to define how he wants to do it, and I have a lot of respect for Ryan Day and how he’s tried to do it. You know, for me, I always wanted every player in the organization the reach their full potential. So it wasn’t so much about the outcome as what you had to do to make everybody better. But a big part of that was insulating the players from external factors: criticism, internet.”
Saban was just getting warmed up and painted an unflattering picture of disgruntled fans.
“I used to tell the players all the time: ‘Why do you care about what some guy puts on the internet, who’s a fat guy, in his underwear, living in his mother’s basement?! Why do you care? Why does that mean anything? Why does that effect you in any way, shape or form? We should be focusing just on what we control and what we can do.'”
Saban grew more animated as he continued.
“I would tell the fans the same thing. If Ohio State (fans) wants to beat Michigan, they need to be positive about their coach and their players, ’cause nobody wants to beat them worse than the players and the coaches do. That’s No. 1. No. 2, they have the opportunity to win the national championship! Everybody ought to be supporting the hell out of them so that they have the best opportunity to do it and quit all this negative bulls—!”
That prompted a reaction from fellow GameDay panelist Kirk Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback who agreed with Saban.
“What I love about that (rant) is you were doing fine for about the first 30 seconds, and then something lit a fuse and you put yourself in that environment because you’ve lived there,” Herbstreit told Saban.
Herbstreit said of negative fans: “It’s like, ‘We’re doing a pretty good job here. … How about getting behind us and helping us down the field?'”
A few minutes later, Saban made it clear he wasn’t speaking just to Ohio State fans. He recalled the high expectations he faced from fans while at Alabama, as well:
“I sat in that spot for 17 years because they thought we should win every game we played at Alabama. And we lost some that we shouldn’t have. It happens sometimes. It’s hard to deal with success and it’s hard to deal with failure, but I think when everybody in the organization is positive about what you’re trying to do — I’m talking about coaches, players, fans, everybody that has anything to do with the organization.
“I always said the fans were a part of the team, and they shouldn’t have any greater expectations for the team than they have for themselves. I think people that create a negative atmosphere, regardless of the circumstance, only hurt their chances of being successful.”
Here’s a video clip of Saban’s rant.
Ohio State hosts Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoffs Saturday at 7 p.m. CT (ABC/ESPN).
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes, plus opinions.
