McElroy: "Saban wants to be the best there ever was."

quote:

---

“To tell you the truth, he never yells after a loss, in my experience,” McElroy said. “He never yelled one time after a loss. But he does yell after a win, because he doesn’t want that complacency to set in. One thing I’ll say that I think you often don’t see from Nick Saban: His players love him. I think the world of him. I think he’s an outstanding coach. That’s not just because I played for him, but I’m an unbiased observer now.

“I look at his accolades and what he’s accomplished. I think he cares about people, he cares about players, graduation rates are through the roof for Alabama since he took the job, and I saw how things were in 2006 and 2007, before he was able to turn it around. The way the program is now, relative to the way it was in 2007, it’s a night-and-day difference. For that, I have so much respect for him.”

---

quote:

---

“To this day, like most successful people in their craft, he is afraid of letting down his team. He’s afraid of failing,” McElroy said. “All those things are in his mind. He wants to be the best there ever was. I don’t think he necessarily cares, but he knows that if he ever gave less than 100 percent, he could potentially fail, and I think that scares him to death.

“That’s why, week-in and week-out, he works tirelessly on recruiting, on the game plan, on getting his players academically eligible, all those things. He is so involved in every aspect. I wouldn’t call him a control freak, but he’s involved in everything. You have to respect that. He’s a micro-manager, in the greatest sense of the word.”

---