Nick Saban has no plans to watch the upcoming Solar Eclipse, and that is about the most interesting thing we can talk about today. The Tide are favored in all their games, they will likely win the SEC West again, and they will have a spot in the College Football Playoff barring some sort of catastrophe. College football teams will likely be at practice when the eclipse passes over them, and Saban has not thought for a second about what he will do. What does this say about how he manages his team?
The process
The issue with the process is that it leaves little time for anything else in someone's life.
Saban is so focused on football that he cannot spare a few hours to watch the eclipse. He has said that they will set up something for the players, but it is hard to imagine a situation in which you could not get excited about something like this. The eclipse is something that happens so infrequently that interrupting the process for a day should not be a serious concern.
He could enjoy it
Saban is in a unique position where he could watch the eclipse because he has a lake house in Georgia that is in the path of the eclipse. Take a helicopter to this location, and he would have time to watch. His players could be released from practice for a day to watch, and all would be well with the world. Saban is not willing to budge, and he went so far as to tell reporters that they should watch it on the Weather Channel.
He said that he watches the Weather Channel every day and that alone prepared him to know what it will look like.
Success at what cost?
Nick Saban has won five national titles, and he has created a true dynasty at Alabama that could be continued by a successor if he wanted. The process has been very useful in the way in which he manages his team, and it is true that he is one of the best coaches of all time.
He may well be the best coach of all time, but it is hard to see how that success has any real meaning when one cannot stop to sell the roasts. It seems like a poor example for athletes who most-likely are not going to the NFL, and it makes the program hard to root for.
I hope that Nick gets to see the eclipse, and I hope that he has a chance to enjoy it the way that other people would.
He needs to lighten up a little if he wants his life to be enjoyable. It is hard to see how someone who is so focused on one thing is able to do anything else that will be worthwhile. If he is joking with the reporters, then he is guilty of being rude for absolutely no reason. Either way, enjoy the eclipse, Nick.
