Award-winning college coach Nick Saban is best known for his time with Alabama, but he doesn’t forget his Michigan State days. Saban was loved at Michigan State, when he was there, but it certainly hurt when he left and had the kind of record that he did with Alabama.

Saban, a seven-time national champion, reminiscent about his time at MSU during a January 21 appearance on “The Pivot Podcast.” During the chat, Saban revealed a special lesson Saban learned from his wife Terry about how to deal with the media and not get upset with what people were saying about him.

Nick Saban Talks MSU

“When I was at Michigan State, I mean the media made me Attila the Hun,” Saban said on the show. “Like, I was this mean, angry coach who was getting on everybody all the time. They were 2-9 when you visited there coming off that last season, then I took over. So it was a tough job. It was a tough rebuild. And I was, I was nervous, I was anxious, I always thought I was going to say the wrong thing, I didn’t develop any relationships with people in the media. So, they made me out to be this sort of Attila the Hun bad guy.”

Saban added that he would head home and tell his wife, “I’m not really like that, man. I hate that these, it just bothers me that everybody’s making me out to be this way.”

As he describes it, she told him, “Do you ever look at yourself? Just look at yourself. You’re nervous, you’re anxious, you’re curt with the people, you don’t respect them, you say they’re asking dumb questions. I mean what do you expect?”

At First, Nick Saban Didn’t Like His Wife’s Words

Well, that’s a truth teller right there. Saban says that he didn’t like the criticism from his wife at first, but eventually, he listened. He used those words to help him move forward as a coach and person. So, perhaps we all have his wife to thank.

As Saban described his first reaction to what his wife said, he stated, “It really pissed me off. I mean, I really got pissed. But, then when I thought about it I said, you know, she’s right. And I started to change and I started developing relationships, taking time with people, having them in my office, talking to them. It was very, very helpful.”

Saban added that it’s one of the reasons he has maintained a good relationship with ESPN.

“Because I was one of the first to let them come to practice and do whatever they call those things where they do the two-a-days and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But I think that really helped your image, which helps recruiting, which helps all kinds of things.”

So, that’s a life lesson from Saban and his wife. We’re proud to have him part of the MSU legacy. Frankly, Saban should call up head MSU football coach Jonathan Smith and give him some words of advice, because we would love a winning season.