“I was very anxious and nervous” - When Nick Saban opened up on his anger management battle at Alabama

Earlier in January, Nick Saban drew curtains on his legendary college football coaching career, ending his 17-year stint in Tuscaloosa and 28 years as coach. For most of it, Saban seemed cool-headed on the sidelines and didn't often let games get the better of him.

However, there are times when even the most experienced coach loses their cool. Maybe due to bad officiating calls or blunders made by their players. Though it's natural to show passion in tense college football matchups, the retired coach said he ended up regretting it afterward because of how the media portrayed it.

During an interview with Fox Sports' Tom Rinaldi in November 2021, Saban had his say about it.

"I always pray that I don't get mad," Saban said on 'Big Noon Kickoff.' "People like you showing me having a fit on that sideline makes me say, 'That don't look so good, man.' I just try to be me. There was a time I didn't always try to be me. I was very anxious and nervous about saying the wrong things. All of those things sort of made an image."

Saban added that he didn't like how the media portrayed his image in a bad light but said it was his wife, Terry Saban, who asked him to be a better version of himself.

"Almost a Atilla the Hun-type coach. That wasn't really who I was, but that's the image who I projected," Saban added. "I said to Miss Terry one day that it really upsets me that the picture the media paints of me is really not who I am.

"And she looked at me and she said, 'you have nobody to blame for that but yourself, because that's who you project.' That's when I tried to unravel this projection that I've created."

Nick Saban once explained his laid-back approach to game situations

The 2021 Nick Saban was not the same as the 2023 one. Last season, when Alabama lost to Texas in Week 2, everyone but the coach was seen exclaiming frustration over how things unfolded. However, it comes from a fact—a promise the former coach made to himself that he wouldn't do or say something that he'd regret later.

In October 2023 on his "Hey Coach & the Nick Saban Show,” the coach talked about the promise he made to himself while also recalling a piece of daunting advice from his wife.

“As I’ve gotten a little older, I’m probably not as volatile as I used to be,” Saban said. “One of my prayers in church on Sunday is, ‘Don’t get angry and control your temper and don’t let your emotions make you do something that you’ll be sorry for.’ I’ve been a little laid back and, at times, it’s been hard to bite my tongue relative to some of the things that we’ve done."

However, Nick Saban's wife had a different methodology to address situations like this.

“I got a lecture [from my wife] about, ‘Why don’t you show a little more intensity on the sidelines when the players aren’t doing exactly what they should do?'” Saban said.

Now that Saban has retired, he can enjoy knowing that he no longer has to get himself riled up with Alabama games.

What do you think Nick Saban's reaction would be to Alabama's two losses in three weeks?