Saban
The Making of a Coach
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4.1 • 52 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An instant New York Times bestseller—the “insidery, detailed, and absorbing” (Sports Illustrated) biography of Nick Saban, the polarizing University of Alabama football coach who not only transformed the college game, but might also be the best ever at winning.
As the head coach of the University of Alabama’s football team, Nick Saban is perhaps the most influential—and polarizing—man in the sport. His program-building vision has delivered packed stadiums, rabid fans, legions of detractors, countless NFL draft picks, and a total of four national championships, including three in the last five years. He is the only coach in the college football’s modern era (since 1936) to win national championships at two different schools. Monte Burke’s Saban—the first major biography of the man who has come to epitomize the game—presents this towering figure with a never-before-seen human depth.
Though a great deal is known about Nick Saban the coach, not much is known about Nick Saban the man. Little is written about his early climb through the coaching ranks as an assistant in college and in the NFL, or his head-coaching stints at Michigan State and Louisiana State and his struggles as a pro coach with the Miami Dolphins. Through unprecedented interviews with more than 250 friends, coworkers, rivals, former players, and others, Burke reveals the defining moments of the coach’s life, including the beginning of his recruiting career at age ten; his dramatic departures from three different high-profile football teams; and the building of championship programs at Louisiana State and Alabama.
In Saban, “Burke has written a winning, definitive portrait of a fascinating character…. A no-holds-barred glimpse into the quest for perfection” (Publishers Weekly).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sports journalist Burke highlights the career of University Alabama football coach Nick Saban in this affectionate, admiring, no-holds-barred glimpse into the quest for perfection that has driven Saban to win four national titles in his 19 years as a college head coach. With the staccato pace of a great play-by-play announcer, Burke traces Saban's desire for perfection to his desire to please his father, both on the football field and off, as a child and teenager growing up near Fairmont, W.Va. This yearning pushes Saban to move from one coaching job to another, relocating from Toledo, Ohio, to Michigan State University, Louisiana State University, and finally to Alabama, each time turning a football program around in a short time after his arrival. Burke describes Saban as someone who expected every player to be as focused on the game as he is, and who peppers his conversations with his players with phrases such as, "You can't hoot with the owls at night and get up and soar with the eagles in the morning." As decisive as he is on the field, Saban has often been indecisive when it comes to his career; famously, he left Michigan State for LSU, arrived in Baton Rouge, called Michigan State late at night in a moment of terrific indecision and asked to return, and then reversed his request the next morning and remained at LSU. Burke has written a winning, definitive portrait of a fascinating character.
Customer Reviews
Great read
Excellent read
Saban
Disgusting, immoral person.