re: Bama: Rushing Leaders

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Close your eyes and imagine the scene:

The 17-year-old recruit walks into Nick Saban's corner office on the second floor of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility just off Bryant Drive in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. At the sight of the 5-star high school player and his family, Saban rises from behind his massive cherry desk and presses a button on a remote control, which shuts the door.

The coach loves this trick and smiles devilishly. There's a liquid glimmer of mischief in his eyes, revealing a side to Saban the recruit has never seen on television.

The recruit notices that, even in the dim light of Saban's inner sanctum—where the shades are usually drawn, as if to conceal secrets—the three national championship rings on a coffee table gleam brilliantly, like sunshine bouncing off the ocean. Saban guides the player and his family onto an overstuffed sofa. The coach takes a seat across from them in an easy chair. Between them are the rings. Then Nicholas Lou Saban Jr., age 63, lays on his singular brand of the hard sell.


We will win championships here. You see these rings? We'll get more of those. And I will prepare you for the NFL. We've had more NFL draft picks in the last five years than anyone. Anyone. The best come here. You'll have to earn your way onto the field as well as your right to stay on it. We have a process here. It's an everyday thing. We focus on what is directly in front of us, not end results. We want you, but know that we will win with or without