Alabama football coach Nick Saban's mood lately is downright jovial - for now | Goodbread
The next Angry Nick Saban rant is coming at some point in time, because the likelihood that the Alabama football coach will sooner or later be set off by the combustible combination of a bad practice, or a Saturday slip-up, and the wrong question asked at the wrong time is somewhere between high and certain.
It's a bit like volcanic activity: you never know when the mountain will spew lava, but you know it won't be dormant forever. If we're counting sideline meltdowns, of course, we're two days removed from the coach's visceral reaction to a shotgun snap bouncing off the shoulder of an unsuspecting Jalen Milroe, who was signaling wide receivers with his head turned at the moment of the mishap, early in the Crimson Tide's 40-17 win over Mississippi State.
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Of course, there's no science to predicting a Saban tantrum. The week of Alabama's last non-conference game ahead of the Auburn game — this year, that would be Chattanooga — is always a high-alert week for an eruption. But for now, despite being saddled with his first September loss since 2015, Saban of late has been about as jovial as he gets.
Heck, even the latest example of Alabama's ongoing shotgun snap problem, which drew Saban's ire in the moment, turned to postgame laughter when he noted that wife Terry Saban had told him to be as animated as necessary if his players warranted a butt-chewing in Starkville. Minutes later, he kiddingly chided a reporter about "being an under center guy" who asked about his team's woes just getting the ball into the quarterback's hands cleanly and accurately.
Then came Monday, when a reporter dropped his cellphone while asking a question at Saban's regular noon news conference.
"How are you going to do with not having your phone? You're of that generation, you know, that you've got to have it," Saban said, breaking up the room with laughter."
Saban's generation, of course, was one of rotary phones and wall-hanger landlines. But good humor translates well from one generation to another, and these days, Saban is stringing together good moods like rarely if ever before. On Monday in a news conference that roughly lasted its usual 10 minutes, the coach also noted that "Miss Terry" had plenty of coaching points for him upon his return home from Starkville, after she'd watched the TV broadcast having never before missed an Alabama game in person since he became coach in 2007.
https://x.com/_NickKelly/status/1708893375020048404?s=20
More fun.
It's not the vibe one would expect from a coach who is used to as much success as Saban is, particularly with a team that has been slow to round into shape offensively. UA players have debunked social media chatter that he's softening a month short of turning 72, and anyone who witnessed his reaction to Saturday's mistimed shotgun snap would be hard-pressed to argue with them.
It is less a sign of softening and more a sign of an absence of panic. Now coming off back-to-back SEC wins, the coach continues to reiterate that he's a believer in this team. A believer that there's a higher ceiling that its capable of reaching. A believer that young quarterback Jalen Milroe has the makeup to perform better by the week.
The time for both team and Milroe to achieve new heights is now, as the Crimson Tide is approaching some of the sharpest teeth on its schedule over the next month-plus.
But for now, Saban is showing his own teeth — with a smile.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama coach Nick Saban's mood lately is downright jovial - for now
