As author Phil Savage puts it, “4th and Goal Every Day” is his textbook on how Nick Saban coaches the University of Alabama, examining how he recruits and develops players, runs practices, and constructs winning offenses and defenses. Seeing as how Alabama has become the dominant football program of the modern era, Savage’s focus is sure to interest many fans, especially given the author’s access to Saban. Savage has been the Crimson Tide Radio Network analyst for every Alabama game since 2009. And long before that, Savage was an assistant to Saban in 1991 when Saban was the defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns.
Here’s an excerpt from 4th and Goal Every Day:
“My state, Alabama, is the wellspring for Nick Saban’s football program. I’m not just talking about my state’s sending forth big and fast football players to Tuscaloosa. I’m talking about sending him football players who have had the parentage necessary to play for Alabama. Think of peewee, middle school, and high school football as the main aquifer for Nick and how some of these kids are raised in the game. The very core of what these kids bring to the university is this:
“Football is a big deal here, you cannot play small.
“You need ambition and confidence to play at Alabama, and Nick is given ambitious and confident boys, most of the time. They play big. It is not necessarily a feeling of superiority. It is a feeling of ‘I can do this. I was born to do this.' "
