Patriots: Nick Saban’s latest round of Belichick stories are amazing
By Mike Luciano
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick might not have a ton of friends in the coaching ranks, but his most noteworthy compatriot is legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban.
13 championships between the two of them have helped establish the pair as the greatest to ever do it at their respective levels.
The two truly became close friends when Belichick was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns, then named Saban his defensive coordinator.
While the two have since gone their separate ways, Belichick clearly values Saban’s football mind, as evidenced by the amount of former SEC players on New England’s roster.
Saban, who once worked alongside Bill’s father Steve, the backfield coach at the Naval Academy for almost 40 years, claims that he was willing to go to outrageous lengths to pick Belichick’s brain.
On The Rich Eisen Show, Saban claimed that when he was the defensive backs coach at Navy, he developed a great relationship with both Belichicks. When he moved to the NFL to coach the secondary for the Houston Oilers, Saban supposedly ventured to West Point under cover of darkness to talk ball with Belichick and avoid the watching eyes of Jerry Glanville.
Meeting through Bill Belichick's dad at Navy and sneaking out to meet at West Point to talk ball, Nick Saban recounts the history of his relationship with New England's modern day Lombardi. pic.twitter.com/NZYvhJXcWZ
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) February 14, 2021
Nick Saban and Patriots coach Bill Belichick remain the best of friends.
Even as a young coach cutting his teeth at the collegiate level, the young Saban’s ability to visualize what the entire defense was doing and teach in a digestible manner caught Belichick’s eye. After getting some experience in college and the pros, Saban left Belichick to become the head coach at Michigan State in 1995, kicking off his illustrious FBS coaching career.
While Saban fizzled out after a two-year stint as an enemy of Belichick in Miami, it seems as though that unsavory chapter of Saban’s coaching history has been officially put in the past.
Knowing Belichick, he’ll likely give his old friend a phone call and ask him a thing or two about some of the top prospects in this draft class, including former Tide quarterback Mac Jones. If Saban’s impeccable eye for talent doesn’t lead Belichick astray once again, the Patriots could restock and contend for a title sooner rather than later.
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