Alabama’s Nick Saban Now Coaching Tide Fans As Well

For weeks, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has preached to his team the importance of not looking ahead, of focusing on the game in front of them and playing their best football no matter who their opponent may be.

On his weekly radio show this week, Saban turned his attention to the Crimson Tide fans.

After talking about how hard the team has worked to get to where they are today, Saban got tough with the fans, saying that they have to do their part as well.

"Our stadium on Saturday—I don’t give a sh*t who we’re playing—better be what it ought to be for what these guys have done,” Saban said, his voice getting quite intense. “Our crowd should have an effect on this game, for our players and our team and what they’ve done."

Tough words.

Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium, despite frequently boasting some of the highest home attendance numbers in college football, has never been considered a consistently loud environment.

Although the Tide fans can shake Tuscaloosa at times, and the student section is often quite intense, the other sections of the stadium often never get overly loud.

Some have blamed rising ticket prices, which have effectively shut off access to the Tide’s more rowdy constituents, as well as the refusal of the administration to expand student seating despite an huge increase in overall enrollment.

The administration has said that part of the upcoming expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium will be dedicated to providing more student tickets.

As for the rest of the stadium, perhaps Saban’s fiery speech will finally get the rich alumni out of their padded seats.

Here’s video of Saban’s speech. (Warning: The dirty word isn’t bleeped.)

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