Drew Kerekes

The reporter was given the opening question in one of Nick Saban’s press conferences early last week, began the question with, “Hi, Saban,” and the Internet did its usual thing and dissected the incident with the care of a high schooler removing the innards of a frog in freshman biology.

Somehow, the awkward greeting morphed into a discussion about how reporters ought to address Alabama’s head football coach. Accusations were made that the reporter was being disrespectful and that, generally speaking, calling Saban anything other than “Coach” or “Coach Saban” was somehow a slight to the man.

I’m going to venture into the territory of reasonable explanation here, as what I’m about to say can’t be 100% confirmed since I’m neither privy to the inner thoughts of Saban nor the reporter who sparked the debate over how to address him. First, some context: CBS 42 (Birmingham, Alabama) sports anchor Simone Eli referred to the woman who made the “Hi, Saban” greeting as an “up and coming” journalist as well as an Alabama alumna and speculated she was probably nervous when she said it.

I can certainly relate, as there have been plenty of times I’ve been nervous to interview someone as part of my job. I think it’s highly doubtful this woman meant any disrespect toward Saban and probably said her greeting while nervous, which led to the awkward-but-not-a-big-deal “Hi, Saban.” And I also think it’s reasonable that Saban, having dealt with the media for decades, realized this wasn’t someone who was a familiar face on the Alabama beat and had likely been nervous addressing him, so he didn’t think much of the awkward greeting and just went on with the press conference.

In fact, I think anyone on that Zoom meeting, be it press, Saban, Alabama media relations officials or otherwise, recognized the awkward greeting for what it was — a nervous rookie asking Saban a question — and forgot about it 20 seconds later. The only reason people kept talking about it was due to the debate as to what is a respectful way to address a coach.

When I was an intern at the Tuscaloosa News, everyone in the sports department at the time addressed Saban as “Coach,” a habit I adopted and maintain to this day. When I call or text a coach, it’s always, “Hi Coach so-and-so” or “Hey Coach.” It’s a personal preference, and I would never argue it’s the “correct” way to address a coach. It’s simply a greeting that works for me.

I’ve always approached my job with the idea that no coach or administrator owes me their time. Despite this, they’re almost always happy to give me their time, as they tend to like it when their kids get publicity. It’s important to remember, though, that my coverage is primarily of high school sports. You might say, “Well, Saban doesn’t owe the media anything, either! They should show him some respect for simply taking their questions!” but it’s not that simple.

In big-time college athletics, as well as at the professional level, talking to the media is part of the job. There’s a reason schools train their players on how to interact with the media before allowing them to do so, as it’s an expectation of journalists covering the teams to have access to players and coaches. Schools and professional teams want the media to cover them, so in exchange, players and coaches are made available in order to help journalists better do their jobs. So, no, I don’t buy into the argument that these journalists should call Saban “Coach” simply because they owe it to him for letting them talk to him. Some still address him with his title, others call him Nick. It’s doubtful Saban or the beat reporters give it much thought. 

For some additional context, the debate on how to address Saban took place amongst the Alabama fan base early in Saban’s tenure as well. I had the opportunity to speak to one of the Alabama beat reporters at the time — he’s since moved on from the beat — during a college workshop and asked him about the debate, since he was one of the ones who addressed Saban as “Nick.” In short, not only did Saban not care, but since he had Saban’s cell phone number, Saban would sometimes call him and say, “Hey, it’s Nick.”

As a six-time national championship coach to date, Saban has certainly earned respect as one of college football’s all-time great coaches, perhaps the all-time great. Whether someone calls him “Nick” or nervously says “Hi, Saban,” these shouldn’t be taken as signs of disrespect. After all, Saban probably couldn’t care less.

Drew Kerekes is the sports editor at The Meridian Star. He can be reached at dkerekes@themeridianstar.com.