John Talty - The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban: How Alabamas Coach Became the Greatest Ever

Contents

This is a remarkable must-read bookan absolute masterpiece. John Talty has written an instant classic, one that grabs you on the first page and holds you breathlessly until its conclusion. The book takes you deep into the secret vault of college footballs greatest coach with never-revealed stories and piercing analysis. Talty was already considered one of the sports finest commentators and with this, he has cemented his legacy.

Paul Finebaum, ESPN commentator and radio host

John Talty peels back the curtain on the greatest college football coach in the sports history, giving us the rare inside look at Nick Sabans personality, tactics, and motivations. His book digs deep on a man few know well, offering an insightful, exciting, and revealing read, all in an effort to answer the mystery: Hows he done it?

Ross Dellenger,Sports Illustratednational college football writer

Ive spent my career teaching business leadership strategies. John Taltys new book, The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban, just jumped to the top of my recommended reading list for my clients. Its an enjoyable and useful deep dive into what makes Saban tick, and how he creates a clear-eyed strategy to building and maintaining a successful organization.

Joe Calloway, author ofBe the Best at What Matters Most

I would recommend this book for everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to my children, as they grow into leadership roles. John Taltys writing is so easy to read and accessible to all that anyone would benefit from reading this book.

Sgt. Noah Galloway (retired), Purple Heart recipient and author ofLiving with No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier

John Talty has captured the key takeaways of Nick Sabans leadership excellence, and what he presents worksIF YOU DO IT. Get this book for everyone on your leadership team. Go through it together, hold each other accountable, and exponentially grow your organization. Success leaves clues. Learn from Saban and Talty.

Dave Anderson, president of LearnToLead and author ofIntentional Mindset

The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban copyright 2022 by John Talty

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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First E-Book Edition: July 2022

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021062757

ISBN 9781637740835 (hardcover)

ISBN 9781637740842 (electronic)

Editing by Katie Dickman

Copyediting by Michael Fedison

Proofreading by Jenny Bridges and Doug Johnson

Indexing by Amy Murphy

Text design and composition by Aaron Edmiston

Cover design by Brigid Pearson

Cover image AP Photo/Vasha Hunt

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For my son, Jack

A s Nick Saban raised the championship trophy above his head with confetti falling around him in Hard Rock Stadium, it solidified what many already knew to be true: he was college footballs greatest coach ever.

His Alabama team easily defeated Ohio State on January 11, 2021, for his seventh national championshiphis sixth while at Alabamasurpassing legendary Alabama coach Paul Bear Bryant for the most in the sports history. Only moments after the game ended, there were already declarations that the 2020 Alabama team was the greatest in college football history.

That team highlighted so much of what makes Saban the greatest coach ever. The win over Ohio State showcased Sabans evolution as a coach, his refusal to accept complacency amid tremendous success, and his unmatched track record of hiring staff and recruiting players. Navigating Alabama to a national championship amid a global pandemic with daily coronavirus testing and bubble living required Sabans best coaching leadership yet.

It marked the culmination of a decades-long journey from an undersized football player in West Virginia whose father owned a local gas station to college footballs highest-paid and most prominent coach. Nick Saban Sr. passed away when he was only forty-six years oldNick Jr. was in college at the timebut his lessons and way of living carry the Alabama coach to this day. Growing up in a West Virginia mining town, Saban was taught that hard work was the only way to make it, and there were no shortcuts to success. Nick Sr. would tell his son, If you dont have the time to do it right, where do you find the time to do it over? Because its going to be done right. He learned that lesson over and over again when servicing cars at his dads gas station as a teenager, lamenting when dark-colored cars came in, knowing his dad would make him wipe them down over and over again until there werent any streaks left.

Big Nick, as he was known, was a tough, hardworking man who demanded perfection from his son in every aspect of his life. He loved his son but wasnt one to dole out praise easily. He was the type of parent who would point out his sons four turnovers after he led his basketball team to a win with 30 points. In his book, How Good Do You Want to Be?, Saban wrote that his father took him to the mines to send a message after he got a D in his eighth-grade music class. When we reached the bottom, he turned to me, his face glowing red in the deep black. Is this what you want? You want to work down here the rest of your life? It scared me straight. His influence left a deep impression on a young Nick Saban, and set him on the path to always strive for more and never let success knock him off it.

His father made him do things that on the outside looking in almost look like were too strong for a kid to have to do, says Darren Anderson, a member of the first team Saban led as head coach. But it created a person who will never relent.

And thats who Saban is. Hes a hard-charging leader who has never been satisfied with his personal success and has never stopped pushing his organizations to strive for more. The mentality his father instilled in him at an early age never went away as he became more famous and successful over his career.

In this book, well examine how that relentless attitude powered Sabans climb to college footballs mountaintop and, most impressively, how he stayed atop it. Its not a biography but rather a leadership and business case study on the most successful coach and most successful college football program in history. It draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with Sabans former players, coaches, friends, rivals, and others who have come into his orbit over the years to offer never-before-heard stories that provide a window into Sabans success and a blueprint for how his approach can work in organizations everywhere. It examines how he finds and acquires the best players, what he looks for in the hiring process, his attention-to-detail preparations, and how hes been able to steer his organization clear of complacency amid tremendous success, among many other lessons.