Nick Saban is no fan of new biography about him
Alabama coach Nick Saban wants you to know that when the time comes to tell the truth about him, he’ll be the one to do it himself.
A biography of Saban called “Saban: The Making of a Coach” by Monte Burke came out Tuesday. Saban went on an unprompted rant on Thursday during his press conference voicing his disapproval of the book.
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“I’m going to make a statement about something because I thought you would surely ask. And this will be the last time this gets talked about. So no one needs to ask me because I’m going to tell you to pull it up on your little computer. Or Facebook or whatever. Or Twitter or whatever you do.
I just want everybody to know that I’m opposed to an unauthorized biography; for anybody. And I think that’s some person that you don’t even know trying to profit by your story. Or someone else’s story. And one of these days when I’m finished coaching at Alabama I’ll write an authorized book because you know there’s really only one expert on my life. And guess who that is. Me. And there won’t be any misinformation, there won’t be any false statements, there won’t be any hearsay, there won’t be any expert analysis from anybody else. It will be the real deal. But I’m not really ready for that to happen. And you know, it’s a little amazing to me that the timing of all this happening right when we’re starting camp, I just want everybody out there to know and our fans that it’s not going to be a distraction to us and it’s never going to get discussed again. But since I’m not finished yet at Alabama, we’re not writing any books yet. But when we decide to write an authorized book, it will have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
You can clearly see the disdain in Saban’s voice simply by reading his comments, though he didn’t reveal if he’s actually read the book or not. A previously-released excerpt of the book detailed the flirtations between Texas and Saban’s agent.
And while we understand that an unauthorized biography may be tough to accept by a man who likes to control every aspect of the message and things around him, it may be a fairer representation of his life and coaching career than an autobiography or authorized biography. It’s simply human nature to want to present yourself in the best light possible. And what one person sees as the truth may not actually be what happened.
His comments may be a reason for people to read the book now too. Given Saban’s feelings, then there may be some curious fans who want to take a look to see what’s raised his ire so much.
Burke told Al.com that he expected Saban to not like the book but backed up his research.
“I kind of expected (Saban) to not like it,” Burke told AL.com Friday morning. “I don’t take issue with him voicing opinions on it. The word unauthorized has negative connotations, but the goal here wasn’t to write some gossip tell-all, nor was it to do some big sloppy wet kiss. It was to do something fair and objective and I think that’s what emerged.
“I didn’t just make this stuff up. I talked to more than 250 people who know him very well, some of whom he gave permission to talk to me. So it’s not like I’m pulling this stuff out of thin air. Most of these people attached their names to the quotes and wanted to be quoted.”
For more Alabama news, visit TideSports.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
