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The first time I did an extended one-on-one interview with Nick Saban, back in June of 2007 in the first iteration of his Alabama office, one thing stood out. He could not sit still. Even while sitting in a comfortable chair. Even during the most relaxed time of year for a college football coach, relatively speaking, aight?
He was generous with his time and expansive with his answers, like when he shared his wife's description of the distance between how others viewed him and how he saw himself as "the Grand Canyon."
Yet all the while, he crossed and uncrossed his legs, did rapid-fire toe taps in his sockless loafers and folded and unfolded his arms while rocking back and forth like he'd just shotgunned a six-pack of Red Bull.
In alleged repose, he was intense and relentless. Which turned out to be exactly the way his Crimson Tide teams would play more often than not for almost two decades.
Fast forward 17 years. My first interaction with Saban's successor, Kalen DeBoer, was a lengthy two-on-one conversation Thursday afternoon. Scott Griffin and I, co-hosts of the new "College Football Saturday" show starting Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. on CBS-42 in Birmingham, visited with DeBoer as he began to pivot toward his first game week in Tuscaloosa.
In contrast with my 2007 sitdown with Saban, this interview took place not in the head coach's redecorated office but in the more generic media room in the Mal Moore Building. So no remote-control door opener, a toy Saban enjoyed.
Another difference: DeBoer was not a tightly wrapped, barely contained ball of kinetic energy. He appeared quite relaxed in his chair and comfortable in his skin, which is part of the battle when you're following a legend. ...
The first time I did an extended one-on-one interview with Nick Saban, back in June of 2007 in the first iteration of his Alabama office, one thing stood out. He could not sit still. Even while sitting in a comfortable chair. Even during the most relaxed time of year for a college football coach, relatively speaking, aight?
He was generous with his time and expansive with his answers, like when he shared his wife's description of the distance between how others viewed him and how he saw himself as "the Grand Canyon."
Yet all the while, he crossed and uncrossed his legs, did rapid-fire toe taps in his sockless loafers and folded and unfolded his arms while rocking back and forth like he'd just shotgunned a six-pack of Red Bull.
In alleged repose, he was intense and relentless. Which turned out to be exactly the way his Crimson Tide teams would play more often than not for almost two decades.
Fast forward 17 years. My first interaction with Saban's successor, Kalen DeBoer, was a lengthy two-on-one conversation Thursday afternoon. Scott Griffin and I, co-hosts of the new "College Football Saturday" show starting Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. on CBS-42 in Birmingham, visited with DeBoer as he began to pivot toward his first game week in Tuscaloosa.
In contrast with my 2007 sitdown with Saban, this interview took place not in the head coach's redecorated office but in the more generic media room in the Mal Moore Building. So no remote-control door opener, a toy Saban enjoyed.
Another difference: DeBoer was not a tightly wrapped, barely contained ball of kinetic energy. He appeared quite relaxed in his chair and comfortable in his skin, which is part of the battle when you're following a legend. ...
