Nick Saban gives more insight into the Crimson Tide

Clearly, you've brought a lot of good personnel in there to help train your players and win these championships. I suppose I want to dial in a little bit on Jeremy [Pruitt]. You've got so many guys from your coaching tree out there right now. I don't know how many. I think you're 11-0 against them as coaches. But when did you identify him? Because he came in as an operations guy, and a lot of people point to your ability in developing coaches. I guess he's one of the guys that's coached under you for so long, has very similar mannerisms, according to a lot of your coaches. How did you identify him as a guy that could turn into an on-field coach right up through DB coach, defensive coordinator, and now another head coach from your tree?

Well, he came in the program, not to correct you, as a player development coach. We have several coaches on our staff that I sort of look at as guys that coach the players in everything but football -- personal development, academics, make sure they're doing the right things when it comes to having a chance to be successful in all those areas.

And Jeremy [Pruitt] was a very successful coach for a very successful coach, high school coach, Rush Propst, at Hoover, and had played at Alabama. So, when we bring people into the organization in those kind of positions, it's with the idea in mind that we're going to develop those people in our organization so that they can do other things, so that we don't have to go someplace and hire somebody that we really don't know.

So Jeremy [Pruitt], it's pretty obvious to me because of the success he had as a high school coach as well as the great job that he did in the role that we put him in at Alabama as a player development coach, that he would be a good on-the-field coach. And he became a secondary coach, and that's kind of what I am, So we kind of worked together a lot, And I really liked the job that he did. And, of course, Jimbo [Fisher] gave him an opportunity to be a coordinator. He did a great job of that. He did a great job at Georgia. And we were fortunate enough to get him to come back to Alabama. And he's done a fantastic job for us.

All these guys work hard and do a good job for you because they have personal goals and aspirations of things that they want to accomplish and do. So it gets hard to replace sometimes all the people that you lose that are really quality people, whether it's Kirby [Smart] or Will [Friend] or Jim McElwain, or whoever it might be, Mario [Cristobal], Billy Napier. I mean, all these guys in the last few years have been a part of our program. That's a challenge for us. But, at the same time, we're excited for them because that's why they did a great job for us, so that they could advance their career and get the opportunities that they wanted, They're no different than maybe I was when I was an assistant coach.

How unique and different is what Minkah [Fitzpatrick] does for you guys defensively in terms of his versatility and just how much of an impact he makes?

I think Minkah is probably -- I think you used the right word -- as versatile as any player that maybe I can remember coaching in the secondary because he can play in the deep part of the field. He can play in the short field. He's a good blitzer. He can play man-to-man. He's a good matchup guy. He has really good size so he can cover bigger guys. He's athletic enough to cover smaller guys.

And he's played every position in the secondary. And I say there's six of those for us in our system. You can play corner. You can play safety. You can play star, which is like the nickel back. Or when we go to six defensive backs, you can be what we call the money position. He's a nickel or a dime guy. And he's done them all, and he's done them all extremely well.

And I think, when you have guys like that, one thing that it does is it enables you to be able to get the best players on the field because you can move him in a position to put another guy in so you get the best players on the field. And some players don't have that versatility. They can only play one position. They might play that position extremely well, but they only play one position.

So I think it helps when you have a couple guys like that. A guy can be a point guard, can be a shooting guard, can play the small forward position. I think those guys offer a lot of versatility to their team.

You got to know him [Minkah Fitzpatrick]. How much did he remind you of yourself just in terms of he's always focused on the present, doesn't look back at the past, doesn't look ahead. I read a lot of people who say he's kind of like you as a player, just in terms of his mentality and his approach.

Well, first off, he's a hell of a lot better player than I ever was. Let's get the record straight on that. (Laughter). I'm just kidding.

But I don't know. It's hard to make comparisons. I do think that Minkah has a lot of the qualities that I think I've always tried to put in place for myself to have the best opportunity to be successful as a coach, as a person. And I see a lot of those qualities in him. He's very conscientious, pays attention to detail, very disciplined, understands the importance of preparation. He's not one of these guys that just thinks I can go out there and make plays without doing things the right way. He always studies the other team and knows their tendencies.

He sets a great example in terms of his work ethic and how he practices and what he does every day. So there's not a lot of things that you can say that Minkah doesn't do exactly like you would want him to do as a coach and what you try to get all of your players to do. I mean, he sets a great example for all those things.

I wanted to ask you about family. Rashaan Evans and Jalen Hurts specifically talked about having their moms and dads involved in the picture. How important is it for these players to have family support? I know family is important to you as well.

Well, I think it's the most important thing. I think relationships that you have in people who support you throughout your career so that you have the opportunities that you have are certainly important. And I think it's important that players realize that and show their appreciation for their family in the support that they give and get and understand that conceptually. We try to make our team a family.

So if you understand the family concept internally, then you have a better chance to actually do the same thing with your teammates and the people that you work with day to day in understanding the importance of relationships, the importance of setting a good example and being somebody that somebody wants to emulate and caring enough about someone else to just teach them how to do something for their benefit.

So it's really learning how to serve others. I think, when you have a good family, you learn that in your family because your family serves each other. Your folks do for you and you try to do for them. And I think that's exactly what you would like to see players do on a team.

So I think the concept of family is something that's really, really important for all players. But I think it's also really important that people understand that so you can have a good team.

Can you talk about the importance of nutrition in keeping healthy?

Well, Ms. Amy [Bragg] does a wonderful job with our players. And we do a lot in our personal development about how to take care of yourself, proper rest, sleep, not dissipating, how you fuel your body in terms of nutrition, hydration, all those things.

And I think those are things that we don't take for granted and we try to teach players how to do that. And I think it's very helpful in the development of players who buy into that.

Nick, with Adam Griffith's graduation last year, it obviously left a void in the kicking game. Can you assess how Andy Pappanastos has done as a fifth-year senior in that role?

Andy has done a really good job for us. He's been very, very consistent. He had a quad injury at the end of the season which I think affected him and he wasn't able to kick in a couple of games.

But his consistency has been really, really good. And I think Andy is a great example of a guy who is very accurate. And we have not asked him to do what he's not really capable of. And he's been very accurate for us in terms of his range and what we've asked him to do. And he's been very consistent. And I think that's really what you want in your field goal kicker.

Talking about Christian Miller, he's gone through the rehab process. He's been practicing. What do you expect from him in the Sugar Bowl? How have you liked his mindset throughout this difficult time where he started the season as the guy at linebacker and then he's had to wait again just to try to get back on the field?

I think Christian has done a really good job. He's a very intelligent guy. He's a great person, good personality. It's important for him to be good.

And this was hard. This was hard for him. It's hard for any player who gets injured to overcome the adversity, do the work to get back, and then make a decision as to am I ready, can I do it.

Him and Terrell [Lewis] both were sort of cleared to play against Auburn but they weren't 100% because they weren't able to practice enough to be 100% as players. They were okay medically. But I think this time has helped both guys be able to develop confidence that they are okay. They can play. They can go out there and do what they can do.

And Christian was a good player for us, and he's practiced well. And I think he'll make a significant contribution in this game.

You guys hired Pete Golding for next year. What does he bring to your program that you guys are looking for?

Well, I think Pete's one of the really fine young coaches out there which is what I always look for. Those guys have energy. They have enthusiasm. He's very intelligent. He's got a wealth of knowledge and experience for someone at his stage of development as a young coach. He's been a coordinator for a long time.

So we just felt he was a really good complement to the rest of our staff. And I think he'll do a really good job for us. We are excited to have him on board. Of course, when we finish playing here, we'll have to end up hiring somebody else because Jeremy [Pruitt] will be leaving. But we're very happy to have him as an addition to the staff.

Of the four coaches in the playoffs, two were walk-ons. One yourself, I think I would say, was not heavily recruited. And Coach [Kirby] Smart at Georgia was a scholarship player. Just wondering if you have a reason or an opinion why it seems like the predominant number of the upper echelon of college coaches seem to come from a background more like yours or Lincoln Riley's or Dabo's [Swinney] instead of a Kirby Smart?

Look, I think sometimes, when you're not as talented or gifted, you learn a different sort of work ethic, a different tenacity, a different mindset to overcome adversity, a different persistence to do the things you need to do to be successful, and also a resistance to not doing the things that aren't going to help you be successful. Because you're driven, you know what you want to accomplish, you're willing to make sacrifices and work harder and persevere better and overcome adversity than maybe somebody else who's more talented who takes some of those things for granted.

And I'm not saying that about Kirby [Smart]. Kirby, to me, worked and did things as well as me or anyone else. And I think he was that kind of player. So I just think that sometimes maybe the intangibles you develop because you're not as talented as somebody else carries over into your chances of being successful in whatever you choose to do, doesn't have anything to do with coaching, because the same ingredients to be successful -- consistency and performance, knowing what you want to accomplish, work ethic, character, perseverance, overcoming adversity, confidence -- you know, all those things are the same in whatever you do.

And success is momentary. It's not a continuum. And you have to understand that, that you have to keep doing the things that you've always done if you're going to continue to be successful.