Saban

The Making of a Coach

By: Monte Burke

Narrated by: Barry Abrams

As the head coach of the University of Alabama's football team, Nick Saban is perhaps the most influential - and controversial - man in the sport. Unpredictable in his professional loyalties, uncompromising in his vision, and unyielding in his pursuit of perfection, the highest-paid coach in college football has changed the face of the game. His program-building vision has delivered packed stadiums, rabid fans, legions of detractors, countless NFL draft picks, and a total of four national championships, including three in the last five years. Though a great deal is known about Nick Saban the coach, not much is known about Nick Saban the man. Through unprecedented interviews with more than 250 friends, coworkers, rivals, former players, and others, Monte Burke reveals the defining moments of the coach's life. He discusses Saban's rapid and at times rocky ascent up the assistant coaching ranks; his complicated relationship with one of his coaching mentors, Bill Belichick; the birth of his now-famous "process"; his dramatic and controversial departures from three different high-profile football teams; and much more. Saban paints a portrait of a complex and compelling man, fundamentally shaped by both his past and the game he loves, in a way that no previous book has.

©2015 Monte Burke (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[A] genuinely insightful look at a fierce competitor who nevertheless seems to care for his players both on and off the field." ( Booklist)

Great story. Very interesting highly recommend

Really good story, not really about the process about his journey. Great narrator must get for football inthuest

not bad...not great...

this was pretty much a straight forward biography. it delves a little bit into Saban's thinking and philosophies. but I was hoping for a more in depth look at his approach to football. that said, it wss still a good book. good overview of Saban.

Narrator is awful.

Whoever hired the guy who narrated this book should be fired. He was awful. He tried to make every southern coach sound like a giant redneck moron. It took everything I had to not turn this off 20 times. His Saban accent was so insulting and degrading. Awful!!!

Terrible southern accent but good story

I can overlook his horrible southern accent imitation and listen to a good story. There was lots of information about Saban's life with Alabama that I had no idea about. It was a very good story & very informative.

Good but not great.

learned a lot about Saban. it is disappointing that Saban didn't have much input in book. I did like the fact that the author didn't take a real bysus on Saban. performance of book was good.

Well researched

Really good read with lots of little known facts. Highly recommend. College football fans will enjoy.

Highly Recommend

Really enjoyed the story. So many interesting details about Saban's past. The narrator did a fine job, but the different voices and accents were hard to listen to at times.

Great story. Great narrator.

This was a great story and had a great narrator. Recommended for anyone. Auburn sucks

worst narrator

Apparently the narrator had watched Forrest Gump before recording this. i had read the book before listening. The narrator took a negative tone with the book. Made it seem like the book was derogatory towards Nick Saban.

Very Captivating...but

I'm a 70 year Alsbama fan that has followed the tide program closely since the 2nd season of Bryant’s career (1960-i was only 7) so I'm biased for sure. BUT, i thought there were a very small bits of misinformation which weren’t enough to really concern me, but i was perturbed by some observations about the Saban era and the Alabama tradition of excellence that bordered on jealousy and resentment of their unparalelled success...”hate”, just a little mind you.