What Nick Saban Said After Testing Positive For COVID-19
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football coach Nick Saban spoke to the media via Zoom on Wednesday just under an hour after the news broke that he — along with director of athletics Greg Byrne — had tested positive for COVID-19.
As of right now, it has been confirmed that Saban and Byrne are the only two positives that resulted from today's testing. No players have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday night.
The full transcript from Nick Saban's Oct. 14 press conference can be found below:
Nick Saban Press Conference - Oct. 14, 2020
Opening Statement
“I knew that something really must be bad wrong — as much as I look forward to these Wednesday press conferences — for me not to be there with you today (laughs). But I was informed earlier this afternoon that I had a positive test for COVID-19 on a PCR test. At this point, I’m completely asymptomatic, feel fine. Our medical officials have told me as long as I remain asymptomatic, I will have a daily PCR testing per SEC protocol to confirm the initial positive. I found this out about one o’clock today. I came home. I informed our team by Zoom. I watched practice today. I talked to the team after practice today, all by Zoom. I actually could speak with a manager if there was anything that I thought was not going correctly.
“So, we’re still doing everything possible to get ready for the Georgia game, preparing our team. I’ll have normal meetings tomorrow. Everything will be on Zoom. We’ll continue to do this. Sark’s kind of filling in in my absence for anything that needs coordinated in the office. But we’re gonna do everything we can to help our team get ready to play, and players today, it’s our goal that they play their best, give their best for the game and we’re gonna continue to try to do this. We’ve had a lot of challenges this year. Our guys have shown great maturity in how they’ve handled all those challenges. So, I’m sure they’ll handle this in a very positive way, as well.”
Questions:
Q: Did you find out that you were positive through routine testing, or were you feeling any different?
Saban: “This was routine every day. We test our players every day. I get tested every day. I feel fine. I felt fine. I was very surprised by this when we got the results back at one o’clock today.”
Q: Has there been an indication of a spike in positive cases among players?
Saban: “No, we haven’t had any indication of that at all with any player.”
Q: Is there a succession plan in place for when coaches test positive? How much autonomy does offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian have during this time?
Saban: "The autonomy part, we haven't really decided yet. But in light of the fact that any coach can test positive, we try to have a protocol in place for if we lost a coach, especially one in a leadership position, who would step in for them. Obviously Sark's been a head coach before, and I'm not sure exactly how this is going to play out in terms of when the game comes, whether I can have communication with people or not.
"We'll have to research and sort of figure that one out. But we did have a plan for each coach on the staff as to what might happen. We've just got to go from there. Just like if we lose a player we have to do the same thing. "
Q: Is there a plan for someone else to call the offense with Sarkisian taking over the head-coaching position while you're away?
Saban: "No, not at all. Not at all. Not at all. He’ll call the offense. He's done a really good job of that. We're not going to make those kind of changes. We have a very capable staff, and those guys make good game day decisions. I just kind of monitor what they do and make sure we're staying on the rails. I think we can get that done even if I'm not available, which is not for certain, I hope. But it is what it is.
Q: Do you at this time know how limited you will be in the game-planning process heading into Georgia?
Saban: "I can do absolutely everything here that I can do. I'll have the same exact routine. The first thing I do on Thursday morning is watch the defensive practice with the defense. Then we do two-point plays. Then I watch what we did against each other with the offense. Then I watch the offense practice and I watch special teams.
"Then I usually do a little write-up for two-point plays for the team. I'll do all those things exactly like I always do it. I watched practice today. I had a manager who had a phone if I wanted a play repeated. I said, repeat that play. So-and-so messed up. I didn't leave the country or anything. I'm just right down the street. And we have this technology, so it's really unique.
"Now, I don't have experience at that. But we're going to do the best we can to keep everything as normal as possible. "
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about contact tracing and your experience with that?
Saban: "Our medical staff sort of manages that, but everybody manages their own personal space. I wear this mask in the office when I'm around anybody. I wear it around the players. All the players wear it in meetings. So we have a protocol in place [where] we're concerned about anybody in the whole organization that could test positive. So secretaries have masks on. We're trying to have everybody manage their own personal space, and that's the best we can do. And our medical staff has done a really good job of that to this point, and hopefully it'll continue that way. "
Q: What concerns you the most about your diagnosis?
Saban: "I feel fine, so I'm not really concerned that much about my health, but you never know. I just want to make — look, I basically feel like when we're in our own personal bubble here, I think everybody's in a much safer place. I think as soon as you travel, you get exposed to a lot more things and a lot more people, if that makes any sense, even though I've worn a mask all the time: in the hotel, on the bus, in the plane. So nobody really knows how this occurs, but I know that our medical staff has done a really good job and the No. 1 thing I would be concerned about is can the players still go out and focus on the game and play the game? It's a big game for them. Our goal as coaches is always to get them in the best position they can be in to be able to have success, and we need to try to continue to do that. That would be the greatest concern that I have. I haven't blocked anybody or tackled anybody, caught any passes, thrown any passes in a game in a long, long time, so it's still going to be up to how the players are able to execute and it's up to us to try to get them in the best position to do that. "
Q: What would be your message to people who might still take the virus lightly?
Saban: "Well, I personally think I did a pretty good job of trying to manage my personal space, and that would be what I've informed our players to try and do. Because you have to respect this disease and the spread of this disease. So I guess my message would be adhere to protocol of what people are informing us to do. Wash our hands, wear a mask, social distance. All those things I think are important. You know, I always tell our players just assume everyone you come in contact with might be infected, and you might be infected and not know it and actually bring harm to them, so I would be concerned for my own personal family. That's about the only people I've been around other than the coaches and the players. I mean, I'm pretty isolated in terms of what I do, so I'm just hopeful that none of them have an issue or problem because of this."
Q: How was the focus of the players at today's practice?
Saban: "I didn't see anything different about practice. I got to see a lot more because when you look at it wide angle you see a lot more than when you're just standing on the field, but I thought the intensity was good, the focus was good, the players were trying to get it right. So I didn't really see anything any different. I can tell you, we've had a lot worse practices when I'm there, so maybe it was a good thing that I wasn't there."
Stay tuned here at Bama Central for news regarding all things Crimson Tide and Nick Saban as No. 2 Alabama football gets set to take on No. 3 Georgia this Saturday.
