If I were to ask you to rank college football coaches based on their “millennial-ness” — how much they act or are like the stereotypical millennial — you’d probably put Kliff Kingsbury and Lincoln Riley, the two actual millennial head coaches, near the top, and Nick Saban very close to the bottom spot (occupied by Bill Snyder’s thousand-year-old self).
Saban is a curmudgeon who is known for his strong work ethic and complete and utter distaste for popular culture, making him, at least outwardly, appear to be not a millennial at all. However, as you dig deeper, you begin to realize that Saban really is a millennial at heart.
First, millennials like to kill industries. Every week there’s a new headline about how we, the young people of America, have destroyed another long-standing establishment like Applebee’s or department stores or something. Nick Saban, within the college football world, has done this in his time at Alabama.
Scheduling difficult out of conference road games? He killed that by realizing he can just boost Bama’s strength of schedule with tough non-conference games exclusively at neutral sites. Now, there are nearly a dozen neutral site openers on the CFB schedule. Recruiting? He’s killed that by having the top recruiting class every year since 2010 (Urban Meyer’s last year at Florida), forcing everyone else to fight for second place.
Saban’s destructive qualities when it comes to once proud and fair institutions of the game should’ve been our first hint. Our second hint should’ve been his propensity for blaming others, chiefly the media, for annoyances in his life. If you Google “Nick Saban media rant” you get 706,000 results.
However, what truly tells the tale of Saban’s millennial nature is his explanation of why he won’t be checking out the solar eclipse on Monday. When the moon blocks the sun over Tuscaloosa, you won’t be seeing Saban outside with his eclipse glasses on staring at it, trying to experience one of the rarities of the world. Why? Because Saban is a millennial.
Nick Saban said he’s already seen how the eclipse will look on the Weather Channel so he doesn’t really care.
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) August 19, 2017
Refusing to go outside and experience something for yourself because you saw a video of what it will look like? That’s the most millennial thing I have ever heard. This is like Lonzo Ball saying he doesn’t really care about traveling because he’s got Google Earth. If there were ever any doubt that Nick Saban is indeed a millennial, this should end that debate. This is the ultimate trump card to any argument to the contrary. Enjoy your avocado toast, Coach.
