‘I Made A Lot Of Bad Decisions’ — Nick Saban Gets Brutally Honest About Tua Tagovailoa’s Season-Ending Injury at Alabama
Nick Saban has an impressive college football resume. He won seven national championships, including six at Alabama. The Kent State alum also guided his teams to 11 Southeastern Conference championships.
But despite his stellar credentials, Saban will never forget the decision-making mistakes that he made. He recalled two of those instances, including the one that placed Tua Tagovailoa in harm’s way.
Nick Saban Reflects on the Decision that Shortened Tagovailoa’s Alabama Career
In time for the premiere of his six-part documentary series on ESPN, Saban had a sit-down interview with SiriusXM Radio host and frequent ESPN First Take panelist Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
Though the lengthy interview covered several topics, the discussion went to the seasons in which Saban felt key decisions hurt Alabama’s championship chances. Saban replied that the two times he listened to his players resulted in disastrous outcomes.
The first was during the 2013 Iron Bowl, when he let rookie Adam Griffith attempt a 57-yard field goal. Instead, the attempt went short, allowing Auburn’s Chris Davis to return the ball, which he did for the game-winning touchdown.
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The second instance was when Tagovailoa suffered a season-ending injury with Alabama already leading Mississippi State by 28 points.
“When Tua got hurt, you know, we were ahead 35-6 (35-7), there were two minutes to go in the half, we got the ball back, and I had already told Tua, ‘You’re done for the day.'”
As Saban recalled the chain of events, he remembered telling Steve Sarkisian, Alabama’s offensive coordinator during the 2019 season, that Tagovailoa was done for the day. After all, the Crimson Tide has established the big lead, and it looked like the Bulldogs won’t catch up.
Instead, a player suggested that Tagovailoa stay in the game, and Saban went along with it. The decision backfired when their starting quarterback suffered a right hip injury that ended his season and his collegiate playing days.
“He got hurt, so I made a lot of bad decisions,” Saban added.
But Saban could have avoided the injury altogether by opting for Tagovailoa to sit out the Mississippi State game. According to a 2019 article on the Alabama Daily News website, Saban contemplated letting Tagovailoa rest because he was nursing an ankle injury.
Instead, Saban kept Tagovailoa, leading to his devastating injury while working on Alabama’s two-minute drill. Alabama still won that game as Jones took over. However, their losses to Auburn and LSU, Saban’s former team, pushed them out of contention for the National Championship.
Alabama ultimately finished outside the College Football Playoff and received a Citrus Bowl berth, where it defeated Michigan. An 11-2 finish was still strong, but Tagovailoa’s injury left Alabama without its starting quarterback for the remainder of a season in which the Tide still had hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff.
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Saban’s regret couldn’t change that outcome, but he could always contemplate what might have been.
But eventually, a happy ending ensued as Tagovailoa became the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and has since built a decent career. Meanwhile, Saban has retired from coaching and now lends his football wisdom as an ESPN “College Gameday” analyst.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.