ESPN SportsCenter will present a special two-night "Sunday Conversation" with Alabama coach Nick Saban. Part 1 will debut on Sunday's 10:30 p.m. program, followed by the second part premiering Monday at 5 p.m. The second part will feature Saban being interviewed by reporter Chris Mortensen as they visit Alabama's Walk of Champions and Bryant-Denny Stadium. Here are excerpts from the interview:
-- CHRIS MORTENSEN: When your agent Jimmy Sexton called to tell you that Alabama wants to talk to you, what did you tell him on that Monday after the season ended?
-- NICK SABAN: I said, 'I don't want to meet with them.' I said, 'I am not interested in doing that.' He said, 'They want to talk to you.' I said, 'I don't really think I want to talk to them,' and he said, 'You really should do this. These people have waited. You are their first choice, and you at least ought to talk to them.' So I had a phone conversation with them. And then, from a media standpoint, this thing really went crazy, and I regret that.
-- CM: The appearance from the outside is that you were being less than truthful. What is the explanation?
-- NS: Well, I wasn't interested in Alabama at the time because I was focused on our season. I was focused on giving our football players the best opportunity to be successful in the games. At the time, what else could I say? That's what I wanted to do, that was my focus and that was the truth at that time.
-- CM: There is no question that you were telling the truth in your mind and in your heart?
-- NS: At that time, because I was focused on our team.
-- CM: How is Nick Saban going to go into the living room of a recruit and look his parents and that kid in the eye and say (when asked about his plans to coach Alabama for a long time), 'Well, I am telling you the truth?'
-- NS: The No. 1 thing for me, Nick Saban, whatever anyone thinks, is to be a good person. Honesty, integrity, loyalty, being fair and honest with people has always been the trademark of what I've done. So regardless of what anybody says, that is who Nick Saban is.
When I landed in the airplane to get here the first day, and there were two to three thousand fans at the airport, it really restored all the memories of the spirit of college football and the passion that people have for it, and it was great to see and it was great to want to be wanted.
-- CM: Isn't that what Nick Saban needed at that moment? Maybe in a way you got a group hug there?
-- NS: I needed a hug (laughing).
-- CM: Do you have one indelible image of Bear Bryant in your own mind about what he was, what type of coach he was?
-- NS: Standing in that tower, and that tower's still there.
-- CM: That houndstooth hat, right?
-- NS: I got one of those -- they give you one of those when you win that (Paul "Bear" Bryant coach of the year) award (laughing). My son Nicholas loves wearing it.
I would like to leave a legacy as an outstanding college football coach, to win a national championship at LSU, and to win another championship at another SEC institution at the University of Alabama would, I think, establish a legacy that is pretty unique.
As reported By : The Press-Register
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