Nick Saban shares message he sent to Kirby Smart after big loss
Alabama coach Nick Saban looks on. Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart may have been disappointed when his team lost to Alabama two weeks ago, but Nick Saban believes the Bulldogs could be better off for it.
During his Friday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Saban spoke about how he always felt his teams benefitted from facing adversity early in the season. The former Alabama coach pointed out that his teams only went undefeated twice and that the majority of his national championship teams had a loss.
Saban said he reminded Smart of that after his former assistant’s recent loss to Alabama.
“I texted Kirby and told him after the Alabama game, ‘This might be the best thing to ever happen to you.’ Losing early sort of gives your team a wakeup call,” Saban said. “All the things you’ve been preaching about — focus, attention to detail, discipline — now all those things seem to have more meaning because you had a consequence and you got humiliated, to some degree.
“I said this may be the best thing to happen to you. When you lose a game and you’re a coach or a player, that doesn’t resonate very well because you’re kind of down in the dumps that you didn’t win. But in the long run, sometimes it helps.”
"I texted Kirby after the Alabama game and said this might be the best thing that happens to you..
Losing early really gives your team a wake up call and everything that you've been saying has more meaning" ~ Nick Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/x8xmWVEgCv
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 11, 2024
Saban repeatedly said during his coaching career that the worst thing for a team was having inflated egos and a sense of entitlement. He famously referred to it as “rat poison,” and it seems like he is still trying to use the concept to motivate Alabama.
Georgia still has a great chance to make the College Football Playoff now that it has expanded to 12 teams. As Saban said, Smart can now use the early-season loss to Alabama as motivation for his players to fight even harder and not take any opponent lightly.