Kirk Herbstreit Explains How Nick Saban Loves Being ‘Coached’ To Get Better As TV Analyst

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit recently appeared on The Dan Patrick Show during the 2026 NFL Draft festivities in Pittsburgh and offered some interesting insight on working with coaching legend Nick Saban on College GameDay. It started with Patrick asking Herbstreit, “Can you tell Saban he’s wrong?”

quote:

---

“Oh yeah,” Herbstreit said. “He’s cool with it.”

“This is the greatest thing about Nick Saban,” Herbstreit explained. “I’ve known him since he was the head coach at Michigan State. So, I’ve known him for almost 25 years. When he first came onto GameDay… He’s Nick Saban! Right? And we’ll get done with a segment, and he’ll turn to me, because I’m sitting right next to him. He’ll look over to me, and he’s like, ‘Was that okay?’ You know, and I’m like, “Yeah, man.'”

“But he wants to be coached like he’s a player,” Herbstreit continued. “He’s like, ‘Don’t just tell me what I want to hear. I want to get better at this.’ He really, I think, has an appreciation for not just being ‘I’m Nick Saban, and that’s enough.’ But really understanding studio television, and ‘How can I be better?'”

“So, I love that about him, because he doesn’t have to do that, right?” Herbstreit added. “I mean, he’s Nick Saban. He can just be Nick Saban. But he wants to really try to study the craft and get good at it.”

---

(Awful Announcing)