Nick Saban recalls âfirst coaching lessonâ at 15 as gamblers chirped before he threw game-winner

Nick Saban talks about his “first coaching lesson” like it was yesterday.

The Alabama coach joined “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday, and analytics was the subject. Saban talked about all the factors that go into the analytics. At the end, he proclaimed, “It depends on your cats, too, and the analytics don’t tell you what cat is doing it.”

In other words, analytics doesn’t consider the quality of the players involved in the scenario.

To illustrate the point, Saban shared a story of when he was a 15-year-old starting quarterback for Monongah High School. Saban said he called the plays, even as a sophomore. His team had rallied from an 18-0 deficit and trailed 18-12, but he faced a fourth and 12 from his own 24. Timeout was called.

“I got guys standing behind the bench saying you got to cover,” Saban laughed. “You have to score again. I have to cover because they are all betting on the game. I’m like 15 years old, trying to manage all of this.”

It was then he got what he called his “first coaching lesson.”

As he tells it, his coach, who called him young Nicky, said “‘What do you think we should do here?’ I said, ‘I think you should call this play that’s what I think.’ I didn’t want to call the play.

“He said, ‘Look, man, you got the best left halfback, fastest guy in the state playing left halfback, you have a three-time all-state guy playing split end, I don’t care what play you call but one of the two of them need to get the ball.”

Not only did Saban call the play, but he remembers the play to this day. Here how the game ended from the man himself in the video above.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.