Nick Saban Knows How to Lose, That’s Why He Doesn’t
Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all-time. He has more division 1 national titles than any other coach, and consistently wins with different players year after year. Simply stated, teams coached by Nick Saban don’t lose often.
However, that doesn’t mean Nick Saban doesn’t know how to lose. I would argue he is not only the greatest winner in college football, but also the greatest loser. Obviously, not in the sense that he is a loser. But in the sense that he knows how to lose and make the best out of a losing situation.
Moreover, it’s his mindset in losing that makes him such a great winner. Saban sums up this mindset in a simple quote he provides in his book How Good do You Want to Be?
If you are going to lose, do it with your best stuff. Know your strengths, play to them, and make the opponent beat you doing it.
This mindset of always orienting your game plan around your strengths, even in no win situations, is one that I suggest you learn from. It’s almost always a mistake to focus your game plan on countering the competition’s strengths. When you do this the consequence is letting the competition dictate the rules of engagement. This reactive approach rarely works. It drives your attention away from the skills that allow you to be at your best to seize opportunities.
Furthermore, consistently seizing opportunities is what makes Nick Saban consistently great. He wouldn’t be able to do this with any other mindset other than this strengths mindset.