Nick Saban is the CEO of Alabama football.

That’s been well-documented. But how does the Crimson Tide head coach keep up with all that goes on in and around his program? He answered that question, and more, in a radio interview on Inside the Locker Room with Wimp and Barry Sanderson.

It started with a question asking when sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts won over the team last year. In his discussion with Alabama’s basketball coach from 1981-92 on Tuesday, Saban provided some more high praise for this starting quarterback -- much like he and others did last week at SEC Media Days.

“I think it speaks volumes of his character, his personality, his leadership that as a young player, the older players on the team would have that much confidence and respond to him in a positive way like they did,” Saban said Tuesday on Tide 102.9 FM. “I have quite a rapport with the older players. We always have a leadership group that I meet with, and that’s kind of how I can sense the pulse of the team.

“And even though I never really asked them about Jalen or who the quarterback was, when they start talking about certain guys on the team, you can always tell what their respect and feel for them is. Even though it was an open battle … it was pretty apparent, to me, that the team really responded to him.”

The topic of Hurts and his development as a passer has been something Saban has asked quite a bit since the end of last season. And the Crimson Tide’s incumbent starter appears to have shown progress with his accuracy downfield and in reading defenses.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban

But a question Saban seldom fields was asked by Sanderson on Tuesday morning. From one coach to another, why does Saban watch practice from both ends of the field and not one?

“I try to keep my finger on the pulse on offense, philosophically mostly, and making sure that we’re doing the things that, first of all, our players are capable of doing, and that usually starts with the quarterback,” Saban said. “That the system doesn’t trump the ability of the players that you have, and hopefully the system is flexible enough that it can engage whatever group of talented players you have at whatever position. We’ve had to change a lot in the last three years because of the quarterback.

“But I probably spend more time on defense.”

Saban, like most coaches, keeps a close eye on the quarterbacks, but he’s never far from the cornerbacks and entire secondary, which he coaches every day during individual drills.

In a story he admitted he probably has never shared publicly, Saban shared a philosophy that he learned from legendary NFL head coach and coordinator Buddy Ryan. He said he used to visit Ryan when his “good friend” was the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears, coaching what Saban called “the best defense in the history of ball, probably, in the ‘80s.”

When Ryan was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and Saban was calling defensive plays for the Cleveland Browns, the now-Alabama coach paid Ryan another visit after he found out Ryan was losing his job in his final coaching stint with the Cardinals.

“I just asked him, I just said, ‘Buddy, what was different about being a coordinator and being a head coach?’” Saban said. “And not in an arrogant way, but this is a lesson that I always remembered, he said, ‘I was always somebody’s best assistant. I was Mike Ditka’s best assistant. I ran his defense and did a good job.’ He said, ‘But I wasn’t my best assistant when I was head coach.’

“That told me he didn’t play to his strengths to contribute to his own staff when he was a head coach. So, I’ve always tried to make sure that the things that I do, whether it was special teams or defense, that I impacted the most, and I didn’t go try to call plays on offense -- which I’ve never done since I was a high school quarterback -- to miss up our team. Even though I wanted to keep a pulse on exactly, philosophically, what we were doing.

“So, that’s kind of how I try to manage. I want to try to be the best assistant as I can be, and that comes from what your expertise was when you grew up in the profession.”

Saban, now in his 11th season, was named to the Dodd Trophy’s 2017 watch list Wednesday.

Listen to the full interview on Inside the Locker Room with Wimp and Barry Sanderson.

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