President Trump says most Americans agree with his attacks on NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.

Count Nick Saban as someone who disagrees.

The Alabama coach was asked Thursday on his weekly radio call-in show what he thought of the protests by a caller who said he is a retired veteran.

Saban probably didn't give the answer the caller or maybe even the listeners would have expected. The coach reminded the caller that as a veteran he fought for the rights of Americans to protest and that he didn't believe the protesters were out to disrespect anyone in the military.

Here is the full transcript of Saban's answer:

“First of all, I’m just a football coach. I don’t have all the answers to all the problems that we have in society. The one thing that’s a little disappointing to me is something that has always been really unifying, something that created spirit in our country and was very unifying is no longer that way. That’s a little bothersome to me.

“I don’t think that what these people are doing is in any way, shape or form meant to disrespect a veteran or somebody like yourself who has worked so hard, fought so hard and sacrificed so much for all of us to have the quality of life that we want to have. But one of the things that you also fought for and made sacrifice for was that we could all have the freedom to have a choice in terms of what we believe, what we do and what we said. This is not something … and, look, I respect people’s individual rights.

"I have my opinions in terms of what I would do and how I would do it. I’m not one ever to disrespect the symbols that represent the values of our country. I also respect individual differences that other people have and they have the right to express those — whether it’s our players or somebody else, whether I agree or disagree, I do think they have the right to do that.”

Saban's answer followed a theme he and the team set during media availability time on Monday, when he said he hates to see the country divided.

“I don’t keep up with that stuff as much as everybody else does, especially during the season, especially when we’re playing games,” Saban told reporters. “But to me, some of the things that we do in our country, when I grew up, they were unifying events. It’s a little painful to see that those things are not so right now.”

Saban and several players said that despite political differences there might be among members of the team, they have done a good job of bonding together for a common goal.

"People respect and trust the principles and values of the organization but they also respect and trust each other and I think that because everybody has bought into the same thing, you have the same goal," Saban told reporters. "You have the same spirit in terms of what you're trying to accomplish and what you're trying to do. I think it's a very unifying factor when everybody respects -- and because you respect the people, you respect the individual differences as well."