Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach Nick Saban is no fan of the new biography that’s out about him. Indeed, the book’s very existence caused Saban to issue a tirade that shows him to be an aloof, isolated, paranoid figure with little respect for social media, the reporters that cover his football program, or scholars at his own university. Trying to preempt questions about the book, Saban said to reporters (speaking as though to children), “So no one needs to ask me because I’m going to tell you to pull it up on your little computer. Or Facebook or whatever. Or Twitter or whatever you do.” What the reporters do, as Saban takes pains to make clear, is small (“your little computer”) and not worth getting specific about (“or Twitter or whatever you do”). Disdainful and dismissive, to say the least. Saban did refrain from using the word peons in addressing reporters.
[Saban: The Making of a Coach by Monte Burke
Given his disdain for social media, Saban’s latest recruiting class may disappoint him: they nearly all tweeted about their decision to attend Alabama. And Alabama fans reacted — on Twitter — with joy and excitement. For the record, Saban says he’s “opposed to an unauthorized biography — for anybody.” It’s a sad statement coming from a man who works at a prestigious university alongside distinguished history professors who write biographies of the likes of Jefferson and Patton — very difficult subjects to get authorization from. And alongside journalism professors who teach their students to seek the truth, not permission.
