How Nick Saban in retirement is helping new DC Kane Wommack and Alabama football defense
Nick Saban is no longer the coach of Alabama football, but he hasn't disappeared by any means. Far from it.
New Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack shared Wednesday that he and Saban have met twice recently to talk defense. The second in-person meeting happened Wednesday morning before Wommack joined "The Next Round" and discussed these conversations.
"I was promptly early (to the meetings)," Wommack said. "I told my wife it was like cramming for a final the night before making sure all my cutups and everything was ready to go for that meeting. Coach has been awesome. He's been helpful. He's honest. Gives me his real thoughts. I ask him real questions. I want to know this team. I want to know what he envisioned from a defensive perspective and how to best kind of take what was done the last 17 years and how they've evolved over 17 years to the point they are now and how we best need to make that transition from a defensive scheme. There's a ton of carryover in what we do and what Coach Saban has done."
Saban is still in an advisory role for UA with an office at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He has plenty else keeping him busy in retirement, though. Saban has golfed plenty and he also has joined ESPN to be part of its College GameDay crew as well as other coverage.
New coach Kalen DeBoer has made clear that he welcomes Saban's presence and however much input he's willing to offer. Already that's been clear with Saban's interactions with Wommack, who left South Alabama to join DeBoer's staff.
“(Saban's) the best in the business to ever do it," DeBoer said at his introductory press conference. "I’m just going to make sure it’s all known that that’s how I feel, with 100% access to everything. I would be a fool if that wasn’t the case. I’m going to ask him that he shows up and makes sure to give me at least one thing every day. I’m sure he’s got 10. But I’m going to be good with that. At least one thing that he sees that we can get better at."
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Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nick Saban: How retired Alabama football coach is helping Kane Wommack
