Kirk Herbstreit explains how Nick Saban loves to be ‘coached’ to get better as TV analyst

Credit: The Dan Patrick Show; Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit recently appeared on The Dan Patrick Show during the 2026 NFL Draft festivities in Pittsburgh and offered some interesting insight on working with coaching legend Nick Saban on College GameDay.

It all began when Dan Patrick asked Herbstreit, “Can you tell Saban he’s wrong?”

“Oh yeah,” Herbstreit said. “He’s cool with it.”

“This is the greatest thing about Nick Saban,” Herbstreit explained. “I’ve known him since he was the head coach at Michigan State. So, I’ve known him for almost 25 years. When he first came onto GameDay… He’s Nick Saban! Right? And we’ll get done with a segment, and he’ll turn to me, because I’m sitting right next to him. He’ll look over to me, and he’s like, ‘Was that okay?’ You know, and I’m like, “Yeah, man.'”

“But he wants to be coached like he’s a player,” Herbstreit continued. “He’s like, ‘Don’t just tell me what I want to hear. I want to get better at this.’ He really, I think, has an appreciation for not just being ‘I’m Nick Saban, and that’s enough.’ But really understanding studio television, and ‘How can I be better?'”

“So, I love that about him, because he doesn’t have to do that, right?” Herbstreit added. “I mean, he’s Nick Saban. He can just be Nick Saban. But he wants to really try to study the craft and get good at it.”

After retiring from a coaching career that featured seven claimed national championships and one unclaimed national title, Saban was hired by ESPN to be a television analyst on College GameDay in 2024. He quickly fit right in with the College GameDay crew and became one of the top studio analysts in sports. His attention to detail and dedication to continue improving at the craft are surely big reasons for that success.

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