re: What makes Saban so good?

This story is true. Coach Saban himself told it to the press. He missed his mother-in-law's Christmas party because of it.

Here is Coach Saban telling it.....

"This was back in the Michigan State days when I was an assistant. Rules were a little bit different then. Nobody really knew this, and I didn't really know it. In fact, my good friend who's the governor of West Virginia now who you guys like to talk to is the guy who told me this. Alberta Brown was someone who had a business in the coal mining town where I grew up. Everybody knew Alberta Brown when I was a kid, and that was Andre Rison's grandmother and she lived in Fairmont, West Virginia.
"Of course, Andre Rison lived with his mother in Flint (Mich.). We were recruiting him, and It wasn't going great for Michigan State. It was kind of Wisconsin and Michigan and Michigan State. We weren't in a bowl game, so we had time to go home for Christmas. I called Alberta Brown and said I wanted to stop over and see her on Christmas Eve, because we weren't getting there until Christmas Eve and Terry's mother had Christmas Eve at her house at night with all the family, and my mother had it on Christmas morning. That was kind of how we did it.
"So I get over to Alberta Brown's and we had a drink or two and it lasted until two or three in the morning. I missed my mother-in-law's Christmas party, which she never forgave me for. Terry never (did) either. But we got Andre Rison, and we got a lot of good information on what we needed to do to get him."

A Nick Saban Christmas Story