During his Wednesday night press conference, Nick Saban took a minute to apologize for how he answered a question after last Saturday's 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee State.
This all originated from a question from reporter Austin Hannon asking if the five-touchdown performance could help Jalen Milroe moving forward as the Tide welcomes the Longhorns to town Saturday. Saban interpreted the question as a hypothetical, something he hates addressing, and went on one of his famous rants from behind the mic.
"So you asking me to speculate and answer a hypothetical question about how some guy's going to perform in the future?" Saban said. "I don't really know. I mean, I love him. I think he's doing well. I know he's working hard trying to improve."
Saban then grabbed the Coke bottle from the podium as a prop.
"This is a Coke bottle. It's not a crystal ball," Saban said. "How do you think he'll play? Do you have any idea?"
This testy response came at the end of a week when some college football analysts accused him of "bullying" reporters trying to do their job.
Before any reporters asked a question Wednesday, Saban turned to Hannon, apologized for the "crystal ball" response, and provided a better answer to the question.
Something I can’t remember seeing at a Saban presser. He looks to @austinhannon_ who was on the receiving end of a Saban rant Saturday and tells him his question wasn’t a bad one. Then he answers how he said he should have after the game. pic.twitter.com/2hDUR9QKan
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) September 6, 2023
"[A]ustin, look, you didn't ask a bad question the other night. I just didn't answer it very well. And when a guy plays well in the game, at any position, it should help his confidence and it should help him perform better in the future. But I do think that every player has to understand that just because I played well, I still want to try to improve the few things that I could have done better. And I think if a person keeps that mindset, then they're always improving, aight, because you're never satisfied and you're always trying to do better and you don't let complacency creep into your game. And that certainly hasn't happened with Jalen (Milroe), so hopefully, the confidence that he gained in this game will certainly help him to continue to play better and better in the future. That's what we hope for as coaches. That's what we try to encourage him to do. And that should have been my answer the other night."
An apology or admitting that he was wrong is not something often seen from Nick Saban. Saban's apology to a media member has caused many on social media to ask if Saban feels like himself. Even one of his former offensive coordinators, Lane Kiffin, raised the question on social media.
"You feeling ok Coach???" Kiffin asked.
You feeling ok Coach??? @AlabamaFTBL https://t.co/erxOhOpwbc
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) September 7, 2023
Maybe this is a sign of Saban finally deciding to change his course and begin to have better media relations with the local reporters.
Alabama and Texas will square off at 6 p.m. CT Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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