WATCH: Alabama HC Nick Saban rocks charming straw hat in practice ahead of Rose Bowl showdown against Michigan

This Saturday, a video emerged of Nick Saban already deep in practice with his Alabama Crimson Tide side, preparing for the Rose Bowl semifinal against Jim Harbaugh's Michigan Wolverines in less than a month.

After starting the season with a defeat to the Texas Longhorns in Week 2 and a shaky victory over the USF Bulls in Week 3, Crimson Tide recovered and won the SEC championship. They finally managed to qualify for the CFP, albeit in a controversial fashion.

Saban was seen in his traditional coaching outfit, a straw hat, and an Alabama Crimson shirt. Michigan opens up as a 2.5-point favorite, although no one in the nation would be silly enough to discount an Alabama side led by Nick Saban. Over the last two decades, the coach has always managed to overcome the odds.

Nick Saban's straw hat is a tradition of the coach that goes back to his time with LSU in the early 2000s. Saban transformed the LSU Tigers into a powerhouse at the start of the century and won his first national title in 2003.

Why does Nick Saban wear a straw hat during practices?

In the summer of 2003, Nick Saban had a near-dead experience while on vacation at Lake Bourton. He was with his family and Lenny Lemoine. an important LSU booster at the time and one of Saban's closest friends.

After spending a day on the lake, Saban tripped off the boat when they were cleaning it. He smacked his head on the dock and fell unconscious into the water. Lemoine raced to get him out of the water as soon as he realized what had happened.

“I jumped in and grabbed him, he had a pretty big gash in his ear and head. It knocked him out,” Lemoine described what happened (via Sports Illustrated).

While the legend around Baton Rouge is that Lenny Lemoine saved the coach's life, he denies it. When asked about it, he said:

“He’s a fighter. Nick would have saved Nick.”

Saban needed some stitches in his ear, and the doctor told him he couldn't get any sun on the ear for some time. It was challenging for a football coach who was about to start a new season. Greg Stringfellow, the Tigers' longtime equipment manager, gave him several options of hat to cover his wound. He chose the straw hat.

With that, a tradition was born, and it continues 20 years later. It may be a sort of a lucky charm for the coach, given that in that 2003 season, he won his first national title.