Nick Saban Bringing Winning Pedigree to Predators

Alongside Predators chairman and majority owner Bill Haslam, Saban addressed several questions about why he wanted to get involved in hockey and what he wants to accomplish with the Predators.

“We're happy to be here,” Saban said. “We’re excited to be here. Dream Sports is something that we created because we wanted to get involved in sports organizations. So, my partner and I, Joe Agresti, decided that we would make this entity, and we’re absolutely excited about it because we are connected to this town with the businesses that we have. We think Nashville is a great, growing city in the right part of the country for us. And to be a part of the hockey team here is something special, and we'd love to build it into a championship. So, we'd love to partner with Mr. Haslam on anything that we can do to help this organization be successful.”

Saban also stated that he was especially excited to partner with Haslam, calling the Predators a “great brand.”

“To have the opportunity to be partners with Mr. Haslam, a successful organization, with a great brand like the Predators, was really something that was appealing to us and an opportunity that we were so excited to be able to take advantage of,” Saban said. “I'm no expert in hockey, so don’t look at me like I'm going to make some huge impact coaching around here, because that's not going to happen. But, I do have a pretty good idea of what it takes to have successful organizations. And one of the reasons that we wanted to partner with the Predators and Mr. Haslam and this organization is they want to be successful. They want to be successful, the people in this town, the fans who support it.”

A Good Organization Starts With the Individual

One of Saban’s greatest strengths as a head coach was his ability to create an organization that consistently operated at a high level, no matter the personnel. Throughout his time at Alabama, Saban had to maneuver through the ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics. Despite that turbulent environment, the Crimson Tide took home six national titles and were one of the most dominant college football teams of all time with Saban at the helm.

Now that he’s done coaching on the gridiron, he hopes some of that expertise can translate in Nashville.

“It's not just an organizational thing - it’s an individual thing,” Saban said. “My success probably was more about helping people be successful. In other words, I wanted everybody in the organization to have goals and aspirations, and I wanted to help them define what they had to do to do it, and provide the leadership to help them to do it. So, if we could get everybody in this organization playing like a champion, we might have a chance to win a championship. And that's something that I always try to promote with our players and the people in our organization, and I know Mr. Haslam wants to do that in this organization. If there's anything I can do to contribute to that process, I'd be glad to be helpful.”

Haslam echoed some of those same points but pointed out that he and Saban won’t have anything to do with personnel decisions. Still, he believes the winning tradition that Saban brings to the table can help breathe some life into an organization that currently finds itself near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

"If you're in this room and you don't get a sense for who ‘Coach’ is and how competitive he is and how much he wants to win, then you've missed it - or you don't have a pulse,” Haslam said.

“When I talk to ‘Coach,’ again, both of us understand we're not going to coach this team. We’re not going to decide who we draft, we're not going to decide what's going to happen at the Trade Deadline. But he does bring a history of winning - I'd argue - almost like no one else. And I love it that he wants to be involved here. So, it's just real… We won Saturday night, Sunday night…and we had huge crowds both nights, and we're playing .500 hockey, and we're packing the Arena out. It's really a great atmosphere. And I thought, ‘These folks deserve a great team,’ and that's what we want to be a part of.”

What’s Next for Nashville?

The Predators will embark on a seven-game road trip starting on Dec. 23 against the Minnesota Wild. They’ll then travel to play the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 27 before heading west to face the Utah Mammoth and Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31, respectively. Trips to Seattle, Calgary and Edmonton round out the trip.