Nick Saban on Tom Osborne

[carlfense]

[Q:] What’s the strangest thing anyone’s ever said to you in a postgame handshake?***snip***

Saban: The first year I was a head coach at Michigan State, the first game we played was against Nebraska when Tom Osborne was the coach. Here, I’d been in the NFL for the four, five, six years, I can’t remember exactly how long. Here we play Nebraska, who goes on to win the national championship. I mean they’ve got a really good team. And we’re playing at Michigan State. I’m looking at this like Nebraska’s just like anybody else, because I don’t know that they’re that much better than everybody. I’ve been coaching in the NFL for a long time. And they beat us like 55-14. I mean, it was unbelievable. Physically, emotionally and everything else. Tom Osborne comes across the field and we shake at the end of the game, and he puts his arm around me and says, “You’re not as bad as you think.” And I didn’t really know what he meant by that. Really what he meant was, “We’ve got a really, really good team here. So when you play somebody your own size, you’ll be fine.” And he was right. We went on to win six games, beat Michigan that year, went to a bowl game. For a first year starting a program, we didn’t have a bad team. But it sure seemed like it that day.

Smart Football

 

[Mierin]

omg that is hysterical

 

[knapplc]

 

[Axl_sued_me]

I just got back from meeting Tom Osborne. He did a Teammates luncheon at my step-mom's job. He looked at me and told me that I was not as bad of a poster that knapplc thinks.

 

[HuskerT]

I'm not fan of Nick Saban, but he just moved up a couple rungs on my ladder because he actually sounded pretty humble in that story. I've always thought of him as a real bad guy and not the type of guy who would share a story like that.

 

[NUance]

I'm not fan of Nick Saban, but he just moved up a couple rungs on my ladder because he actually sounded pretty humble in that story. I've always thought of him as a real bad guy and not the type of guy who would share a story like that.

Sabin can say EXACTLY the right thing. He has that reputation. He could sell ice to eskimos. Or sell the Crimson Tide to any recruit.

 

[huKSer]

I'm not fan of Nick Saban, but he just moved up a couple rungs on my ladder because he actually sounded pretty humble in that story. I've always thought of him as a real bad guy and not the type of guy who would share a story like that.

Sabin can say EXACTLY the right thing. He has that reputation. He could sell ice to eskimos. Or sell the Crimson Tide to any recruit.

Or buy any recruit for the Crimson Tide

 

[1Huskernation]

Living in Alabama, this is a great story to share with all my local Bammer friends.

Of course, it should be noted that Nick has been witnessed berating officials and players alike on a consistent basis throughout his career. Surely the only reason he should get a pass for his behavior while Bo gets taken to task for the same could be traced back to East Lansing and Dr. Tom's passive aggression shown towards Saban during the monumental beatdown in the nineties?

 

[druski_2k5]

"You're not as bad as you think" = you just got destroyed by the eventual greatest college football team to ever grace the Earth.

 

[NUance]

I'm not fan of Nick Saban, but he just moved up a couple rungs on my ladder because he actually sounded pretty humble in that story. I've always thought of him as a real bad guy and not the type of guy who would share a story like that.

Sabin can say EXACTLY the right thing. He has that reputation. He could sell ice to eskimos. Or sell the Crimson Tide to any recruit.

Or buy any recruit for the Crimson Tide

Nick Saban: "You want cash or check?"

 

[tschu]

"You're not as bad as you think"

omg thats priceless

 

[HuskerT]

My favorite Nick Saban quote is when he referred to the shady agents who secretly pay players as "pimps". I wonder what he thinks of coaches who know their players are getting paid and do nothing about it. lol

 

[irafreak]

It seems odd but we don't know how their pregame chat went. You see a lot of coaches talking before the game. It would have been interesting to know what their conversation went like before the game.

 

[Saunders]

Tom Osborne rolls like a boss.

 

[HuskersGJ]

Nebraska as eventual champ = '95

@ Michigan State = '95

but the 55-14 was '96 (1995 score was 50-10)

Its kind of crazy he remembered the score even if he was a year off!