In reality, according to more than a dozen current and former players and assistant coaches, that freedom to take in the bigger picture is a result of intensely prepared and scripted game plans that enable Saban, one of the most successful coaches in college football history, to be his most productive self during the 60 minutes each week that matter most.

So while the since-departed offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin was shouting plays into his headset, call sheet covering his lips, at the line of scrimmage during an early drive against Washington, Saban was calmly situated 15 yards past the line of scrimmage, roughly parallel with Washington’s safety, seeing what the Huskies were doing. While he could hear what Kiffin was saying through his own headset, he could be reasonably confident that he knew what his team would be up to anyway.

“All these choices and decisions get made based on the plan of how you went into the game,” Saban said, “rather than some feeling you get on the sidelines during the game.”

Saban himself would most likely attribute most of his success to his teams’ talent, which is annually among the best in the country. But even Saban credits his in-game decisions to pregame preparations. He has a small army of talented assistant coaches at his disposal — in addition to the nine allowed under N.C.A.A. rules, Alabama employs a special assistant, nine staff members in operations or personnel and at least eight “analysts.” The group included for much of the year five men (not including Saban) who have led a top-tier college football team of their own.

Which is to say: Saban delegates, but only to a strictly defined degree.

“Coach Saban is very hands-on in every part of our program,” the Tide’s first-year defensive coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt, told reporters recently, “from the weight room to the nutrition to all the way down to, you know, what we’re going to wear to this press conference.”

During games, Saban is (mostly) a decidedly dormant volcano. His stock pose is arms crossed and head down, like that mournful portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs in the White House. His dour demeanor reminds some of Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots coach, who was Saban’s boss with the Cleveland Browns in the early 1990s.