of you guys could do that? You could all do it, because you’ d focus on the board. But what if I took the same 2-by-4 and put it 10 stories up, stretched between two buildings? Then it’ s hard to focus on the board, because you’ re focused on your fear of falling. Focus on your goals. Don’ t be distracted by your fears. Concentrate on the 2-by-4 and we’ ll get it done.”
•“ Discipline is not punishment. Discipline is changing someone’ s behavior.”
FOUR COMPONENTS OF LEADERSHIP
1. Engage: You HAVE to make it about them because they don’ t see it like we do. Get over it, youth have changed.
2. Inspire: Why does every coach think that everyone wants to be great? Human condition is to survive, to be average. IT IS SPECIAL TO WANT TO BE GREAT. You cannot expect your kids to want to be great. We’ ve had success here at Alabama because we don’ t assume people want to be great and we’ ve put a system in place that makes it uncomfortable unless they’ re choosing the path that will make them great. We don’ t assume they will do it on their own. It’ s up to us to inspire / put a system in place to make people want it.
3. Influence: Thoughts, Habits, Priorities. Influence these three( IN THAT ORDER!).
4. Impact: How do we impact them? How do they impact each other? Peer intervention + peer pressure.
STANDARDS
•“ Nick has a unique ability to make everyone in the building singleminded in purpose. There’ s nobody in there that isn’ t doing something to try to win.” – Bill Belichick
•“ Everything for us goes back to trust and respect. Trust and respect the principles of the organization, trust and respect each other.”
•“ He puts a structure in place that covers all areas from ankle-wrappers to play-callers. Everyone is held accountable. It’ s a system where people know there’ s a standard, an expectation that you’ re there to meet.” – Major Applewhite
•“ You have to challenge people to do things a certain way and it may be more than what they expect from themselves. You have to reinforce positive performance when they do it, but you also have to confront them to do it correctly if they don’ t do it that way. And there’ s a balance in there.”
SELF-DISCIPLINE
•“ Everything you do, everything you have, everything you become is ultimately the result of the choices you have made. You have the power to direct your life. How will you use it? What’ s your choice?”
•“ You have to have discipline to do things on your own. There’ s not always going to be someone to make you do it. You have to have discipline to do it yourself.”
MOTIVATION
•“ I don’ t care what you did yesterday. If you’ re happy with that, you have bigger problems.”
MENTAL TOUGHNESS
•“ Mental toughness is a perseverance that you have when you can make yourself do something that you really don’ t feel like doing. You don’ t really feel like getting up, but you get up. You don’ t feel like practicing today, but you practice. And, even in difficult circumstances and difficult surroundings, you can stay focused on what you need to stay focused on. So, it really is a mental discipline to be able to stick within whatever circumstance you are in and continue to persevere at a high level and not let other circumstances affect how you perform.”
•“ I will not allow my players to put their hand on their knees or show in their faces they are tired going into the fourth quarter. If they do, they are going to get their butts whipped. If they do that, they are showing the other team they can be beat.”
•“ The mental toughness training was geared toward showing players that their minds were as important to football success as their bodies.”
•“ Every day you come to practice, you get better or you get worse. You’ re not going to stay the same and it’ s all going to start with how you think. How you think will determine the mental intensity you play with. Without that mental intensity, we cannot improve.
•“ There are three intangibles that take no athletic ability that aid a player in being responsible for his own self-determination. Those three intangibles take the most time in coaching in my opinion. Those intangibles are effort, toughness and assignment.”
•“ I think the things that it takes to be successful are the same regardless, whether it’ s passion, commitment, hard work, investing your time in the right things, perseverance, pride in performance, how you think in a positive and negative way, the discipline you have personally— you have to make choices in your decisions.”
MISCELLANEOUS
•“ He doesn’ t obsess over national championships; he obsesses over trying to push people to be better. He thinks if he can do that, the wins will come.”
•“ You don’ t dominate someone the first play, you do it the 70th play. You need to sustain.”
•“ Make all your decisions based on winning.”(# 1 thing Saban learned from Chuck Knoll)
• Locker room sign:“ Don’ t Come Back Until You’ ve Improved”
•“ Be relentless in the pursuit of your goal and resilient in the face of bad luck and adversity.”
•“ The one thing our program is based upon is finishing. Finish games. Finish your reps. Finish your running. Finish practice strong. Finish the fourth quarter.” – Alabama Offensive Lineman, Will Vlachos
•“ Don’ t look at the scoreboard. Whether you’ re ahead or behind shouldn’ t affect how you participate.”
•“ Teaching is the ability to inspire learning.” n
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