When Nick Saban said ‘I’m still going to have a presence here …. ‘ in an ESPN interview after his retirement, the former Alabama football coach was speaking literally, about an office in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
But the Saban presence in the stadium may become symbolic as well.
An item marked ‘consideration of resolution approving a naming at Bryant-Denny Stadium ….’ appears on the agenda for The University of Alabama System’s Honorary Degrees and Recognition Committee Meeting for Friday, July 19. Reports began circulating widely through a variety of media that the gridiron inside Bryant-Denny Stadium will be dedicated as Nick Saban Field.
In Tuscaloosa, his name already 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.
Saban also has a nine-foot bronze statue outside Bryant-Denny, on the Walk of Champions, standing with the likenesses of other coaches who coached Alabama to national football championships: Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul W. ‘Bear’ Bryant and Gene Stallings.
The 72-year-old Saban announced his retirement this January after coaching the Tide to a 201-19 record over 17 seasons, including six national titles and nine SEC championships. Added to his 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.
Following his retirement announcement, there was talk of adding his name to those of Bryant and Denny. The 100,077-capacity Bryant-Denny Stadium was originally built in 1929 for about $100,000, 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 construction over about nine acres southwest of the Quadrangle, the campus center which also holds Denny Chimes.
Bryant’s name was added in 1976. State Sen. Bert Bank, a long-time Tuscaloosan, urged the state legislature to bestow the honor on Bryant, who won 323 games and six national championships.