Everything Nick Saban said at annual Nick's Kids Golf Tournament

VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. – Before making his way to Hole 17 for the Nick’s Kids Golf Tournament, former Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke to reporters at Old Overton Club.

Rather than discussing the Crimson Tide’s roster additions or the upcoming conference meetings in Destin, however, Saban talked about his longtime foundation and how he is still impacting his community and players after retiring from coaching back on Jan. 10.

“It’s all about the kids and creating opportunities for them to have a better chance to be successful in life,” Saban said on Tuesday. “We’ve done quite a bit in that regard and want to continue to be able to do that in the future. 

“We just opened our “LANK” house, which was, I think, our 22nd house, had that dedication, and we’re working on the Saban Center, which is a children’s learning center in Tuscaloosa, which will be state of the arm, will be a STEM hub for teachers to take technologies back to the classroom all over the state of Alabama. 

“We’re excited about that project, and we certainly appreciate all the people that come out and support Nick’s Kids. Hopefully, we can continue to make this event something positive for everybody in the future.”

In addition to Saban, new Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer and members of his coaching staff were also in attendance, as were several current and former Alabama football players, including Mark Ingram and Tua Tagovailoa, who previously golfed with Saban this spring.

Members of the Crimson Tide’s 2024 team also hit the links on Tuesday, including CJ Dippre, Quandarrius Robinson, Tim Keenan, Kendrick Law, Kobe Prentice and Malachi Moore.

Below is a full transcript of everything the former coach said before the charity tournament.

Saban on how proud is he to see his foundation grow each year… 

“I think that’s the goal. The more we can grow, the more people we can help. That’s something that we work hard at. It’s something that I do quite a bit in terms of making sure that we’re making the contributions to do the things we need to do. We made another significant gift to the Saban Center. Miss Terry is kind of on the ball on this. We have to get bigger because she’s getting bigger with what are we doing and what we are supporting and that type of thing, which I think is a good thing. It’s an opportunity for us to give back to the community.

“And one of the things that I’m most proud of is how many guys when they were playing at Alabama over the last 17 years helped build houses, helped do things to support Nick’s Kids because they got a great feeling about giving back to the community, they started foundations of their own when they became NFL players or whatever. So I think that’s a really significant accomplishment in developing the person who learns how to be a servant leader and help other people for their benefit.”

Saban on if his relationship with former players changes after retirement…

“I don’t think relationships change because you’re not the coach. Tua and Mark are here and some of our players who are still players who were on our team. So that hasn’t changed. How it changes in the future will be something I can’t predict. But to have Kalen here and the current Alabama coaching staff to support this is also pretty significant, I think, because this is a community effort. It’s just not about us. All these people support Nick’s Kids. So to have the university continue to do that, I think, is an important part of it.”

Saban on what aspect of the Saban Center is he most excited about…

“I think the opportunity for children to learn, grow. Coaching is all about teaching, teaching is the ability to inspire learning. So hopefully we can inspire learning. But I think having a STEM hub for teachers that can come there and actually learn new technologies, take it back to classrooms all over the state is a pretty significant thing, as well.”

Saban on if Miss Terry has put him to work on the foundation now that he’s retired…

“She’s so used to me not being around, I think she’s looking for things to keep me that way, which is good for golf. But I’m able to do things that I’ve never been able to do before, whether it’s work things, whether it’s speaking, whether it’s doing TV, whether it’s to continue to try to support things like this to help in the community.

“We’re actually in the process of starting a sort of a foundation for career development for our players, which Molly Dowd is going to head up at the university. We are funding that to some degree. When players get finished playing, they end up calling me. But we have so many great resources at the university to help these guys launch their next career. That’s something that we want to get organized and do a better job of. So projects like that, I’ve never had a chance to do anything like that before, so now we have a chance to do it.”

Saban on early conversations about Nick’s Kids and maintaining integrity of that goal…

“I want it to be bigger. I want it to get bigger. One of the things that I’ve had an opportunity to do, whether it’s go to Reggie Jackson’s foundation or the big one they had in Nashville last week is see how other people do things and how much money they raise for the benefit of other people. We want to continue to use some of those ideas to continue to grow. If you’re asking me 20 years ago would it ever be what it is today, I probably never thought we’d get this big. And I want it to get even bigger.”

Saban on what Cedric Burns has meant to him and what his role is in his retirement…

“Cedric is still attached to my hip, so that hasn’t changed. He’s the most servant person I’ve been around in terms of helping other people and very selfless in how he spends his time to help other people at the university, as well as myself. We feel very indebted to him.”

Saban on which former Alabama player is the best golf partner…

“You know, Mark’s pretty decent. I actually had Mark and Tua when we were in Florida – because they’re both in Florida – come up to Jupiter Hills where we’re members. We played with one other member, but that was my most enjoyable round of golf I’ve had this year, playing with the two of them. Mark and I took on Tua and Burk Wyatt, who was the other member, and it was very competitive. 

“But man, did I get killed on all the stuff that’s happened over the last when those guys were playing, whether they were stories about practice, stories about games, talks that I gave. I mean, it was brutal for me to get killed from both. And they’re two offensive guys. I was always viewed as the defensive guy and telling stories about how the offense would have good practice and the defense would have a bad practice, and I would chew everybody out afterward because the defense had a bad practice but the offense had a good practice. So I was getting killed the whole 18 holes, but it was fun.”

Saban on how big it is to help former players build their careers…

“One of the things that we wanted to do with the program was we always want the players to have a better chance to be more successful in life because they were involved in the program. So that’s helping them develop as people, helping them develop a career off the field, which means graduating from school, and see if we can help them develop a career on the field and maybe play at the next level someday. But that last one doesn’t last long, so eventually you’ve got to have that next career and you’re preparing yourself for when you can’t play football when you go to college. 

“And we have great resources at Alabama. We have a 1st and 10 Club, which is an organization for just that. But we haven’t been able to tie all those resources together and always have somebody that’s getting it to the players. So to be able to do that now, I think, will be huge in being able those guys and use the resources we have to help them.”

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