Nick Saban can relate to Michael Jordan

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“Everybody wants to be comfortable, but you’ve got to get used to being uncomfortable if you’re really going to be successful and you’re really going to be good,” Saban said. “I could really relate to that. That’s what we’ve always tried to get the players in our program to do. Some understand it, some don’t.

“Some people use that against us in recruiting sometimes because, ‘I’ve heard you don’t have any fun at Alabama.’ Well, we have fun here. The structure that we have is so the players don’t have too much fun. But at the same time, we’re also trying to create a culture of accountability where the players have the best chance to develop the kind of habits that are going to help them be successful in their life, in their future.”

“I really think the last three minutes of the last show, number eight I think it is, was something I could really relate to, that we could really relate to,” Saban said. “…When they referred to him as, ‘Some of your teammates think you might be a tyrant,’ he paused and actually almost got tears in his eyes when he said, ‘There’s a price to pay for winning. There’s a price to pay for being a leader.’ You have to push people to get them to do things they might not want to do, make them uncomfortable.”

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