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The Tuscaloosa News
Nick Saban honored by having field at Bryant-Denny Stadium named after him by UA
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Nick Saban honored by having field at Bryant-Denny Stadium named after him by UA
Another champion's name has been added to one of the most storied arenas in college football, after a Friday University of Alabama Systems vote approved the name Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium .
Board member Kenneth Simon read the proposal honoring Nick Saban, the Alabama football coach whose on-the-field winning ways rippled outward onto a growing campus, student population and world of engaged alumni. The proposal noted the University of Alabama campus' "significant enrollment" rise from 2007, Saban's first year, at 25,580 students, up to 39,623 students in 2023.
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Nick and Terry Saban joined in the virtual meeting. As the resolution reading concluded, the coach summed it up succinctly: "Pretty special."
University of Alabama President Stuart Bell zoomed in from overseas, calling this naming "a resolution of transformational impact "that will affect generations to come."
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More: Alabama football picked to finish third in the SEC, 16 players named to the Preseason All-SEC Team
"Truly, the numbers alone can't describe the coach and Miss Terry's impact," Bell said, noting their educational and philanthropic efforts, work serving people and being friends to the wider community.
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"Most famously, coach Saban generated for a generation of young men a process for greatness," he said, teaching the importance of preparation and focus, not just on the field, but also in life.
Board president pro tem Scott Phelps added, "The name sets a standard we would all like to seek to maintain," and noted that while the meeting's resolution was intended to applaud the Sabans, it was in fact the entire UA community which had been honored by them.
The vote was unanimous in favor, with a plan to make the formal presentation Sept. 7 at Bryant-Denny, tied to UA's home game against USF.
Conceptual images of what signage may look like later this year, for Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. A resolution approving the name addition passed unanimously before a committee from the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
Both Sabans spoke in the meeting.
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"Well first of all, this is very special honor," Nick Saban said. "I don't think there could be anything that better honors the hard work and the example we tried to set for our community, our university and all the players within it."
The honor underlines the wider team efforts.
"It was always about being a champion in everything you do," he said. Miss Terry, as she's known, has been the head coach of their house, he said, and as such influenced and led much of the Sabans' on- and off-field success.
"There was no place in the country we ever went to recruit, or we visited, that anybody didn't know what 'Roll Tide' stood for," Nick Saban said of the "most special place you could ever want to be a coach."
Conceptual images of what signage may look like later this year, for Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. A resolution approving the name addition passed unanimously before a committee from the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
Terry Saban spoke of the joy of four generations of family watching games together at Bryant-Denny Stadium, absorbing atmosphere from the Walk of Champions, enjoying Big Al, the Million Dollar Band and "... being able to say 'Roll Tide' after every first down. We will never be able to forget that."
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After an item marked "consideration of resolution approving a naming at Bryant-Denny Stadium ...." appeared on the UA System's Honorary Degrees and Recognition Committee Meeting for Friday, reports began circulating about the newest honor for the former Alabama coach, who announced his retirement in January.
In an ESPN interview after the announcement, Saban said "I'm still going to have a presence here ...." referring to an office inside Bryant-Denny.
In Tuscaloosa, his name adorns the Saban Catholic Student Center, adjacent to campus. The Nick's KIds Foundation, named for the coach's late father, Nick Saban Sr., and driven by his wife Terry, has built namesake playgrounds at The Alberta School of Performing Arts and along the Riverwalk.
The avenue formerly known as 28th is now Nick's Kids Avenue, running alongside the former Tuscaloosa News building site, which the city has purchased and plans to rebuild into the Saban Center, a STEAM learning venue with art, entertainment, and hands-on education.
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Saban also has a nine-foot bronze statue outside Bryant-Denny, on the Walk of Champions, standing with the likenesses of others who coached UA to national football championships: Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul W. "Bear" Bryant and Gene Stallings.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban reacts after a 34-20 win over Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Oct. 21, 2023.
The 72-year-old Saban led the Tide to a 201-19 record over 17 seasons, winning six national titles and nine SEC championships. Added to previous head coaching gigs at LSU , Michigan State and Toledo, his college career record was 297-71-1, with seven national championships. Saban also coached three years for the NFL's Miami Dolphins before being lured to the Capstone in 2007.
The 100,077-capacity Bryant-Denny Stadium was originally built to a much-smaller scale in 1929, and named for George H. Denny, the university's 15th president, credited for much of UA's early expansion and growth. Money earned from 1926 and '27 Rose Bowl teams helped pay for the $100,000 construction, built over about nine acres southwest of the Quadrangle, the campus center which also holds Denny Chimes.
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Bryant's name was added in 1976. State Sen. Bert Bank, a longtime Tuscaloosan, urged the state legislature to bestow the honor on Bryant, who won 323 games and six national championships.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football will name field at Bryant-Denny Stadium after Nick Saban
