BUYING INTO THE VISION

Shortly after he settled in as head football coach at the University of Alabama in the early days of 2007, Nick Saban issued a 148-page book to every player.

The cover stated Saban's vision for the kind of program he wanted to build:

“To hunt,

“To stalk,

“To intimidate,

“To have a killer instinct,

“To create a nightmare,

“For this is the way of the Crimson Tide.”

“Everywhere you go you see it,” said cornerback Javier Arenas, also a senior on the national championship team. “Sitting at home, for me, all the way in Tampa, you open this book and it's saying the same thing that's stressed up in the locker room."

“So it's like we live this. This is what we've got to do every day. It begins to sink in and affect you. It's something you pick up and it becomes a characteristic.”

“You are always reminded what the goal is, how you're supposed to act, the way you're supposed to play.”

The book carries the messages of such diverse personalities as Martin Luther King Jr., Mike Tyson and Babe Ruth, among others. Each saying underscores a theme stressed by the Crimson Tide's head coach.

“You just can't beat the person who never gives up,” reads the quotation from Ruth.

“The time is always right to do what is right,” is King's contribution.

“I was hoping he would get up so I could hit him again and keep him down,” is attributed to Tyson.

Powerful words from well-known personalities drive home points Saban wants his players to grasp.

“It's almost like you're being brainwashed into, ‘This is how you play the game, how it has to be,'” Peek said. “Those stories, those messages, and how that relates to us are reiterated by the coaches. It's a motivational tool to bring it home to us.”

There are also anonymous sayings:

“If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

“We are in charge of our attitudes.”

“Success is determined not by how many times you get knocked down, but by how quickly you get back up.”

Also mixed in are short sections on such subjects as leadership, attitude, making proper choices and how to be a better teammate.

“I think it all starts at the top with the message that coach sends and the idea of team and not selfish individuals, and I think he does an outstanding job of getting everybody on the same page and making sure that they understand, ‘Look, you're going to buy in or you're going to become irrelevant.' Guys don't want to be irrelevant."

“I think that we probably have a guy or two somewhere around that hasn't bought in,” Saban said after Alabama's victory over Florida in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game. “Most of those guys don't play a lot."

“You've got to be responsible and accountable and be able to do your job. There's a way you have to do it in terms of the effort, the toughness and the intangibles and dependability you have and discipline you have in carrying out your responsibility. And I, quite frankly, think when you have a critical mass of players on your team that think like that, they don't really want the other guys that don't think that way to be out there with them.”

The players' acceptance and adoption of the entire program was the last step in the process of building a national championship team.

“Guys buying in,” he said. “Look what happens when you buy in. We all bought into that and that's why we're here [National Champions].”

(Thanks Tommy Deas & Bob Starkey)