6:30 AM
On January 3, 2007, Nick was leaving his home in south Florida and heading for the airport. He had said publicly that he wasn't interested in leaving for Alabama. He wanted to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Despite finishing his second season with a disappointing 6-10 record, he wasn't looking for an out.
Mal Moore, Alabama's athletic director, came over for dinner. After some soul-searching, and after sleeping on what he'd heard, he called Moore to accept his offer to become the next coach of the Tide.
The public backlash was intense after word got out. He had gone back on his word after he said he was better suited to college than the NFL draft and free agency. Fans and the media called him a liar and a snake for that.
15 years ago, the day of Jan. 3 was one of the most stressed out days in the life of the man, according to a conversation with the sports network.
He said that he was leaving Miami when he arrived in Tuscaloosa. People were not happy.
Changing jobs has always been difficult for him. He left his first head coaching job at Toledo because he felt like he was bailing on the players. It took him a year to come to terms with it.
Was there a good way to quit? He admitted that sometimes there's a little roadkill from a decision.
It weighed on him as he flew to Tuscaloosa.
There was a huge crowd of people that were excited when we got off the plane. It was a spiritual boost.
The man laughed.
He said that it was a surprise, but that it was needed at the time.
Thousands of people came to the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport to greet the coach. It was like a scene from a movie. The fans posed for pictures with the special edition of the Tuscaloosa News that declared "Saban time." Fans ignored the security presence and crammed into the tiny terminal building as the coach tried to get to the SUVs.
Jon Gilbert was careful not to get crushed. He said it would be the best way to describe it, since it would be like traveling to O'Hare Airport in Chicago in the 1990s when someone announced that Michael Jordan had landed.
A woman kissed a man on his cheek while Gilbert watched.
You can see Nick making a smile and you can see his eyes cut towards Terry. Gilbert recalled.
We take a look back at the day that launched a dynasty that will seek to win its seventh national championship with Nick Saban as coach.
Fans at the airport waved flags and pompoms and posed for pictures with the special edition of The Tuscaloosa News which declared "Sabana time."
Even as Moore sat in front of the home of the man he was going to take to the airport, he couldn't tell what was real. He thought he was going to hire West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier turned him down, and for the longest time, Alabama's Nick Saban wouldn't even talk to Moore on the phone.
Moore called his special assistant.
"I think it's done," Moore said. We're on our way to the airport.
The nickname "Malfunction" was earned by Moore, who had won championships as a player and an assistant coach at Alabama, but his tenure as AD had been rocky. Moore understood the enormity of the situation when trying to get Alabama's new head coach, Nick Saban, who had won a national championship at LSU.
"I don't think he felt good until the plane was off the ground," said the man who died in 2013.
Moore told Ronny Robertson, Alabama's athletic director of development, to grab Gilbert, borrow two SUVs from the local dealership and drive to the airport to pick everyone up.
Robertson and Gilbert turned onto Airport Road.
Hundreds of cars lined the street.
Gilbert said they thought there might be people standing at the fence trying to catch a glimpse of the coach. We didn't know how many people would show up.
It was crazy. Gilbert and Robertson got out of their car. The people were waiting all morning.
Robertson asked Gilbert, "Can you believe this?"
Robertson locked eyes with Moore and shook the hand of the man he was with.
He pulled Moore in for a bear hug. I am proud of you.
Television cameras were watching Alabama's football coach, who was wearing a light purple shirt that looked like a holdover from his days at LSU.
The police department was not prepared for the amount of people at the airport, the athletic department was not prepared, and the airport was not prepared.
Gilbert said that the result was "unprecedented access" to the coach.
He said that the root of the word "fan" is "fanatic".
Police officers tried to surround the coach, but fans were so close that they pulled him in every direction.
Kent Gidley, a photographer with the university since 1986, said that the lady grabbed him and tried to hug him. I don't think [Saban] realized what was going to happen.
It was pandemonium and starstruck at the same time. It was like a rock concert. People went crazy.
Robertson said he was thinking about something.
"These people are crazy and that's why Alabama is so good," Robertson said. We have the most dedicated fans in the world. They're coming off a 6-7 season with Shula, there's a new coach coming in, and they're treating him like he's already won the national championship.
David Wasson, the sports editor at the Tuscaloosa News at the time, called the decade between Gene Stallings and the arrival of Saban the "Dark Ages."
Alabama was knocked down a peg when Franchione left for Texas A&M. Price was fired before he ever coached a game after reports of excessive drinking and a trip to a Florida strip club. Shula tried to clean up the mess that was left, but never made it out of the cellar of mediocrity.
The once-proud program that had claimed 12 national titles had fallen on hard times, with NCAA violations for improper use of textbooks.
Wasson said that the hiring of Saban was important. The outsized reaction to the arrival of Alabama's new football coach was impressive, but not necessarily surprising.
Wasson carried a bundle of special editions of the paper celebrating the arrival of Saban. They printed thousands more copies in the days that followed after they ran out of copies.
Wasson compared the scene to Woodstock without the drugs.
He said that people showed a lot of emotion when they saw that the program was coming to help them. It sounds like it's religious. That sounds offensive. That sounds wrong. For people who have never been to a football game in Alabama on a Saturday afternoon in the fall, God bless you, you just don't understand. Because it is a religion.
Ronny Robertson of Alabama athletics said that they have the most loyal fans in the world. "Here they're coming off a 6-7 season with Shula, there's a new coach coming in and they're treating him like he's already won the national championship."
ANDY GAUT was told to stay away from the plane when it landed after he spent more than a decade working at the airport. He said he shared a beer with Jimmy.
Gaut steered clear of his boss while skating on thin ice. He was surrounded by a few co-workers, but he was content to sit on a tractor off to the side and wait for the crowd to clear.
Gaut said, "Saban gets off the plane and he walks toward the crowd and looks over at us." I said "Oh, hell no" when he walked towards us. He shook our hands.
I leaned over the tractor and said hello.
A picture of that moment is the only piece of Alabama-related paraphernalia he has.
Gaut said that he has been a character with him over the years. He joked that he didn't want him on his plane after seeing my stuff in my office. I was the first one to open the door when they came back after the 2012 championship. He said, "Oh, f--- you." It's been enjoyable.
If he'd been out of a job, there wouldn't have been that back-and-forth.
It was a full circle for Gaut when he met the Alabama coach a month earlier.
People who work at airports know a lot. They've already seen John Smith before there's a report online or in the newspaper. In small college towns like Tuscaloosa, they work closely with the university. You can get the inside scoop if you befriend the university pilots and athletic directors.
Gaut knew better than the world that Rodriguez had agreed to become the next head coach at Alabama. The deal was sunk at the last minute after he heard that they'd hit a problem.
Gaut called into a sports talk show and said he was a sports fan.
He was able to get through and was on the air with Winches. "That's not going to happen," Randy said, giving only his first name.
Winches tried to figure out how he knew that, but got nowhere. He asked who his source was and got nothing.
Winches remembers the call as unexpected. He recalled rumors that Rodriguez was already on campus when the deal was done.
My job was to ask how you know what. Winches said that he was told that Rich Rod was not going to take the job. It turned out to be true.
Gaut got a call from his boss after Rodriguez backed out.
Gaut said that someone at the university wanted him to be fired. Gaut said his boss tried to get him to give up his source. Maybe he wouldn't be facing the unemployment line if he did that. Gaut was let go because he wouldn't say anything. He said the airport did too much business with the athletic department to risk keeping him on.
Gaut called the lawyer he knew and told him what happened. He didn't think he had any recourse since he was in a right-to-work state. Gaut said the lawyer told him at one point, "This is news."
Gaut said he got a call saying his job was safe after threatening to go public. He said he got his Christmas bonus early and used a condo at the beach.
"Just don't call any more radio stations."
Jon Gilbert, an associate athletic director, said the airport scene was "unprecedented access to Coach Saban."
Robert Hild opened the door of the SUV and made sure fans wouldn't try to jump in. They were off when Saban and his wife climbed inside.
Robertson was nervous as he drove them back to campus. There were many people in the administration with connections to LSU that had a reputation for being hot-tempered and demanding.
Robertson said that the associate athletic directors told the assistant athletic directors and the assistant athletic directors told the staff people. It got through the entire building that it will be different than Mike Shula. Everyone was a little on edge.
Bryant Hall was where the Sabans would stay until they purchased a home, and more fans greeted them as they drove through campus. Robertson and Gilbert panicked when they couldn't find any filters in the kitchen, but things went well.
After giving the family a few minutes to settle in, they took them on a tour of the facilities. Bryant-Denny Stadium was not a palace. The football facility was in need of a renovation.
As he took everything in, he was quiet. He'd stop and think about what he'd like to change, like getting the locker room and meeting rooms on the same level to make things easier for players.
The landing area upstairs was called the "Championship Hallway". It looked like a shrine to a bygone era with many old images. Gidley remembers that when he was a kid, he was told that it was his job to build the future.
A signal to recruits and current players that not all great things are in the past is what the coach wanted.
Gidley said that he was not degrading. He was respectful. He had a vision.
Gilbert was impressed by how quickly the information was processed by the coach.
The new football coach of the Alabama team shook hands with the athletic director.
The moment that stood out the most to Gilbert was the moment when the new coach stopped at a large whiteboard in the recruiting office and looked at the names and information of the class.
Gilbert said that he asked the staff and the recruiting coordinators what to do with the student-athletes. Where are we with this kid? Who reached out to this student-athletes? He knew who the best high school players were and who he needed to talk to.
The future pros that were rattled off wereRolando McClain and Kareem Jackson.
Gilbert said that he knew players who weren't on the board. It was a methodical approach.
Alabama needed someone with a plan to get back to the promised land, and that's what they got with The Process. The program's rich history and resources made a dynasty possible.
Robertson doesn't remember if it was after championship No. 1 or No. 6, but he heard a comment from the coach that stuck with him.
"The table was set," he said. I had to sit down and eat.
