After hanging up his whistle and straw hat, Nick Saban had a trial run in his new role as an analyst on College GameDay during last month’s NFL Draft. He was on set in Detroit for coverage and drew rave reviews for his performance alongside Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit.
But as his new colleague adjusts to being behind the microphone, Herbstreit hopes Saban can impart some wisdom on the GameDay audience.
Saban’s charisma stood out during the draft as he smiled and made jokes – something fans didn’t see much of during his 50-year coaching career. That’s part of the reason he received so much praise. But to Herbstreit, what stood out the most was Saban’s ability to explain the ins and outs of the game so well.
The ability to educate is what Herbstreit is most excited to see, and he said the show is “at the beginning” of planning out what that will look like.
“Man, just sitting there to draft – because I’m big on listening to when someone’s talking,” Herbstreit said on The Mental Game podcast. “I’m not thinking about my next comment. I’m like, I want to hear what you’re saying. So he says something and I’m always thinking to the audience.
“There were two or three times he said some stuff – because he hadn’t done a lot of TV – and I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ Just for the viewer to be able to teach them and really help us all understand some of the stuff because he’s at such a different level. … If he can basically teach us every week – and I don’t know if we’re gonna come up with a cool X-O segment with him or what we might do each week. But, man, we’re just kind of at the beginning of where this thing might go with him being on board.”
Game breakdowns wouldn’t be new for Saban. He did those after Alabama games for the program’s media department. But doing it on ESPN will be a change – especially since he’ll be doing it alongside Pat McAfee, who had Saban on his show every week during the 2023 season.
Herbstreit didn’t try to predict what those two would do. But he said that’s another reason he thinks Saban will continue to smile more.
“Nick Saban has such a great personality,” Herbstreit said. “He’s very serious and he’s very X-O, but I think people are going to kind of see him smile. I think they’re going to see him have some fun. Him and Pat together this year, I mean, that’s going to be – every week, what are they going to be up to?”
Saban will join the GameDay crew for the 2024 season when the first show gets underway from Ireland. That’s where Florida State and Georgia Tech will kick off the year in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
The post Kirk Herbstreit hopes Nick Saban can showcase personality, ‘teach’ during College GameDay appeared first on On3.