If this college football offseason has taught us anything, it's that Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban likes to enjoy himself during this time of the year.
The college football season requires a lot of a head coach, and Saban — who's been coaching football in various capacities for numerous decades — has earned some enjoyment in the offseason.
One of Saban's favorite activities is golf. And a former Crimson Tide player personnel director let the world in on a hilarious story. The former director is Tyler Siskey, now the South Alabama recruiting director. Appearing on the "McCready & Siskey" podcast, Siskey told the following story:
we just get Coach Saban to golf on time pic.twitter.com/uTLVGZq3Ff
— BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) June 23, 2023
"We're going to Kiva Dunes to play in a golf tournament, and we have a staff meeting at 7:30 in Tuscaloosa," Siskey said. "I figured, hey, we need to get out of this meeting at 10:15 at the latest or he's going to be pissed because he's going to be late for the golf tournament, the press conference, the whole deal. Kirby [Smart] comes to me and goes, 'Hey, look, you have your bag packed, and you have it by your door. When he says it's time to go, grab your bag and run to the parking lot.' I'm going, 'Are you serious?' He's like, 'Yeah. You'll understand. Trust me.'"
For context, Kiva Dunes is about a five-hour drive from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The story continued, though.
"At 10:57, one hour and three minutes before tee time in Gulf Shores, Alabama — for those that are listening that don't understand the geography, that's a long way away — ... [Saban] has his reading glasses on and takes the reading glasses off real nice and calmly and goes, 'Alright boys. I told 'em we wouldn't be late. Let's go.' And when he said that, the room scattered like cockroaches with the light on. I mean, grown-ass men running down the hall, and he never broke stride. He is as calm as day, just got up, went to his office ... and just starts walking down the hall. We get out there to the parking lot. There are two vans ... and a guy goes, 'Offense over here, defense over here.' They had a police escort that got us through town that took us straight on the runway. There were two jets cranked up ... not on the taxiway, on the actual runway. ... We got on; 23 minutes later, we landed in Gulf Shores .... I hit my first golf ball at 11:57, one hour — 60 minutes — exactly from sitting in the staff room to hitting my first golf ball."
Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Yes, you read that right. Jets. Police escorts. All so Saban could golf.
I guess when you have a career winning percentage of over .800 and make millions per year, the world — including jets and police escorts — is at your fingertips.
