“I hated that”: $80M-worth Nick Saban reveals why he hated home games at Alabama
Nick Saban had many enjoyable moments during his time as Alabama's coach for 17 seasons. However, the seven-time national champion didn't prefer playing home games at Tuscaloosa for one unique reason.
While speaking to Pat MacAfee on his show on Friday, Saban, who has a net worth of $80 million (Per CelebrityNetWorth) revealed that he didn't like engaging with several recruits and their families just before Alabama's home games at Bryant-Denny Stadium. By his own admission, the meet-ups often ended up being a distraction for Saban.
"I was even saying on the way over here how much easier it was to play on the road from my coaching-load standpoint," Saban said. "If you had 300 recruits in there, who talked to those guys while they were there? The coaches had to talk to them, the head coach had to talk to them.
"I mean, so you're spending so much time on Friday and Saturday recruiting that it takes away from your focus on the game. Then you're asking a player, 'Hey, man, why don't come over and say hi to this recruit?' Instead of him focusing on the game, he's worried about recruiting. When you play on the road, you don't have any of that."
Saban continued to stress on the bit he hated a day before Alabama hosted a team.
"Plus I used to have to go to Nick at Noon and speak to everybody when we had a home game. I hated that. I mean, I hated it. To spend 12 to 1 on Friday before a big game and you're speaking to these alums."
Saban led Alabama to six national titles. Since his team was always in contention for top honors in college football, many high school players wanted to play for the Tide.
Saban retired from coaching earlier this year and since then, he has been serving as an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay.
Alabama named football field in honor of Nick Saban
In July, Alabama announced that it would be naming its football field at Bryant-Denny Stadium after Nick Saban. The honorary move was made official on Sept. 7, during halftime of Alabama's game against South Florida.
There was an on-field celebration for Saban, who finished his career at the Tide with a 292–71–1 record. Since then, the Alabama football ground at Bryant-Denny Stadium is known as Saban Field.