Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Lessons from Saban

Few figures conjure polarizing emotions as much as Alabama Coach Nick Saban. It's hard to know where to start.

As a child, he helped his father run a service station. Washing cars was one of his jobs. After completion, Nick, Sr. inspected each car. If imperfect, the boy had to rewash the whole car. That attention to detail stayed with him.

Some label his pro coaching career a failure. As defensive backs coach with Bill Belichick in Cleveland, he helped forge one of the best defenses in the NFL. Things went awry during his brief head coaching career in Miami. 

Here are excerpts from "How Good Do You Want to Be?" particularly Chapter 4 on Teamwork. 

"Often the best teams are not made up of the best individuals." 

Saban discusses the 2003-2004 Lakers, starting Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton and coming up empty. 

Of his 1998 Michigan State team he remarks, "distractions and personal agendas crippled the team concept." 

He shares the three I's:

Intelligence - playing smart 

Immediacy - urgency

Intensity - desire to be the best at all times

1. There is no 'i' in team but there is an 'i' in win. "Individual responsibility...recruit with an eye on character.

2. Everything you do, you do to the team. "Will my actions hurt the team?"

3. Get out of yourself and into the team. Put the team first. Popovich-like

4. Don't forget the fundamentals. "Most plays that fail do so because of a mental error or a lack of fundamental execution." 

5. You can have no flickering lights. One failure can sink the team.

6. Do not allow mistakes to go uncorrected. The first 15 minutes of Monday practice are devoted to correcting mistakes. "Teachable moments"

7. Having skill is not having talent. Talent is translating skill. He notes that in his fourth year at MSU, his team had lots of skill, but couldn't put into use as talent with toughness and togetherness.

8. You must trust, not just believe. Trust to Saban means putting your fate in others' hands. 

9. Sometimes what is best for the individual is not what is best for the team. That can mean letting go of a valued assistant or player. 

10.Teams must take ownership of themselves and their personalities. At LSU they had a Peer Intervention Group. Players enforced the rules. 

11.Teams that play together often end up lucky. Officiating, health, and how the ball bounces matter. 

12.With your "A" game you can beat anybody; anything less and they can beat you.

13.Create a nightmare for your opponent. Dominate.

14.If you think you are dominant, you will be. 

15.Dominant people enjoy going onto the opponent's turf. Great teams win on the road. "Get to" don't "have to." 

16.Dominant individuals and teams only beat themselves. Dominant players like Serena Williams lost at their peak only by their own errors. 

17.Very good teams make others quit. Coach Dave Smart says great teams play "harder and longer" than opposition. 

18.Dominant people don't care what the score is. "Keep doing what you've done to be successful.


He also discusses Pat Riley's "Disease of Me" (selfishness). 

- Inexperience in dealing with sudden success

- Chronic feelings of underappreciation (neediness)

- Paranoia over being cheated out of one's rightful share (credit)

- Resentment against the competence of partners

- Personal effort mustered solely to outshine a teammate (be concerned about being on the best team over being the best on the team)

- Leadership vacuum resulting from the formation of cliques and rivalries

- Feelings of frustration even when the team performs successfully

Lagniappe (something extra). Jump ball play. 

Lagniappe 2. "Every day is player development day." 


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