"You got to embrace hard": When Nick Saban delivered powerful speech on developing mental toughness

Nick Saban is the most successful college football coach of all time. He led Alabama to six national championships and won another with LSU.

While being able to accumulate some of the most talented recruits across the country helps, one also needs to possess an ability to coach young men to be the best versions of themselves to replicate the success Saban has seen. A key factor of that is having mentally tough players.

A few years ago, Saban was asked how important mental toughness is in the game, and if it can be coached. Saban offered a powerful and insightful response to the question.

"I think you get mental toughness because things are hard," Saban said. "You got to embrace hard. I think that's true in your life. I think that's true in football. You know, tough times make hard people. Easy times make soft people. It's no different in football. If it's hard, you have to embrace hard.

"I think you develop it because people are in difficult circumstances and they learn how to overcome. I don't think you can develop it if you don't have difficult circumstances. Because you got to learn how to overcome things that are hard."

Nick Saban and his legendary college football coaching career

Nick Saban began his coaching career in 1973 with Kent State as a graduate assistant. He went on to be a defensive position coach for Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State and others. Saban eventually landed his first head coaching gig with Toledo in 1990 before being scooped up by the NFL's Cleveland Browns to serve as their defensive coordinator.

After a few years in Cleveland, Saban took the head coaching position for Michigan State, where he served for several years before taking the same job with LSU. Saban coached the Tigers to a national championship in 2003 and took the head coaching job for the Miami Dolphins in 2005.

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Saban spent two seasons with the Dolphins before becoming the coach at Alabama. It was the last coaching position Saban would ever take, spending 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide. Throughout that time, Saban helped Alabama establish itself as one of the most dominant college football programs of all time, winning six national titles.

In January 2024, Saban announced his retirement from coaching and has been working as a broadcaster for ESPN.