Successful people are always asked “what’s your secret,” and we now have a little bit of insight into Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s success-making routine.
There’s no doubt that Saban is one of the best college football coaches of all-time. His seven national championships speak for themselves, with six of those making him a beloved figure in the state of Alabama (there’s no telling when the last time he bought a beer for himself was).
At 72-years-old, many have been left to wonder how much longer Saban can keep the Alabama dynasty rolling, but if you ask me, he seems to be doing just fine, and there might be a dietary secret to that. While speaking as a guest on The Pat McAfee Show earlier today, Saban revealed how his daily breakfast helps him keep up his routine, and ultimately helps him be a successful football coach:
“I stay focused this way all the time because I try to prepare with a certain routine everyday. I get up, everyday, I let the dog out, I have a cup of coffee, I get two Little Debbie (Oatmeal Creme) cookies, that’s how I start. I shower, I shave, I do the same thing when I go to work everyday.
So, you know, routine sort of helps people stay in the moment. That’s what I try to focus on, that’s what I try to get our player to focus on. That’s how I try to prepare our players.”
There you have it. The key to success is throwing back Little Debbie snack cakes (specifically oatmeal creme pies) on a daily basis. When Nick Saban eats an excess amount of sugary cake snacks, it’s a “winning routine,” but when I do it, it’s a “dietary concern.”
And he’s apparently been keeping up this oatmeal creme pie routine for quite some time. So long actually that he doesn’t even remember when he started doing it:
“But I’ve been doing this for so long, I can’t remember how long. Somebody asked me this question way back when and I couldn’t remember then. Like I said to you guys before they didn’t have such things as obsessive compulsive personalities but that like to do the same things in the same routine all the time and have everything in a certain order but I’m sure that if I got diagnosed that would probably be the (case).”
If you didn’t already respect Nick Saban for his winning ways, you’ve got to respect his love (and apparent need) for Little Debbie snack cakes. In an era of every other professional athlete and sports figure saying they are avoiding sugar and only eating lean protein, Nick Saban is here to tell you to grab another snack cake out of the pantry.
Saban even admitted in the above interview that on stressful days, he might even add in another oatmeal creme pie to take the edge off:
“We don’t take Sundays off, not during the season. That’s one of the most challenging days for you as a college coach is, you’ve got to clean up the last game, you’ve got to grade the last game, you’ve got to make corrections, and then you’ve got to start on the next opponent.
So at least you can make those corrections with the players on Monday as well as start to install a new game plan for the next opponent so Sunday is a really difficult day for us and I might even eat an extra Little Debbie in the morning then.”
Do whatever you have to do Coach Saban. The routine certainly seems to be working for him, so there’s no reason to cut back on the snack cakes anytime soon. He honestly looks great for someone that eats over 700 oatmeal creme pies every single year.
The fun fact about his breakfast has been known for a while, and one of the best times it was covered was when Nick Saban was on Eli Manning’s ESPN plus show Eli’s Places. Manning asked him about his “breakfast of champions,” and then the show ran some absolutely golden footage of Saban yelling at players during practice. My favorite line is:
“Your hands are back here man. You might as well stick them up your a**.”
