“He wouldn’t quit until it was absolutely spotless,”: High School teammate once revealed how Nick Saban cleaned a drain on a cold-rainy night

In the 2016 book Saban: The Making of a Coach, a high school teammate of Nick Saban Jr. shares a moment when the college football legend cleaned a drain in bad weather. Monte Burke is the author of the biography, which is currently available on Amazon.

The book discusses the ESPN college football analyst's upbringing, including how his father, Nick Saban Sr. (AKA "Big Nick"), pushed him to diligently complete his work and responsibilities. The former Alabama Crimson Tide coach worked at his father's car service station.

Brian Evans opened up about a time when "Big Nick" told his former high school teammate to clean a drain at the station on a cold, rainy night. Evans noted that the former coach had to keep working until it was spotless.

"He wouldn't quit until it was absolutely spotless," Evans said. "We were telling him, 'Come on, man. It's fine. Let's go. Let's go.' But Brother said, 'We're going to do it right. I don't want to listen to it later on.'"

The book didn't detail the consequences if the former coach hadn't cleaned the drain completely. However, he spoke openly about his father's influence on his life and how he has to follow his rules in SEC Networks' "Saturdays in the South: A History of SEC Football" documentary.

"There's the right way, there's the wrong way, and there's Big Nick's way, and Big Nick's way was always the right way, but it was a pretty high standard," Saban Jr. said (Timestamp: 0:42).

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Nick Saban Jr. opens up about his father's parenting

The retired coach recalled when his father wanted him to cut the grass and asked for details on how he did it. He also noted that "Big Nick" slammed his fist on the dining table.

"If he told you to cut the grass, then everybody sat down and ate dinner together at night, you know, put his fist on the table and just did you cut the grass?," Saban Jr. (Timestamp: 1:21). "Did you trim? Did you, you know, sweep it? Did you put the mower away? Did you clean the mower? There was a reckoning."

Despite the high standards "Big Nick" held against his son, the former coach said he didn't fear him."I don't know if fear was exactly right," Saban Jr. said (Timestamp: 1:39). "Respect is probably a better word, but I wasn't taking any chances."

The influence "Big Nick" had on his son's life contributed to the accomplished coach's career and legacy in college football.

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