(670 The Score) As the Bears went about their work during the early portion of training camp in July, head coach Matt Eberflus welcomed in legendary coach Nick Saban to visit.
Saban coached Eberflus at Toledo back in 1990, and the two have maintained a close connection since. During their meeting in July, Saban talked Eberflus through the process of guiding a young quarterback – in this case, rookie Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
On the Bernstein & Holmes Show on Friday, Eberflus explained how Saban’s mentorship has been an important influence in his own career.
“Coach Saban has been great,” Eberflus said. “He had a very big impact on my life when I was a 20-year-old guy back in Toledo, when he came over there and took that program over. He was only there one year, and we won the championship that year. It was very impactful how he came in and really just gave clear expectations of what he expected, and then he laid the standards down of how we want to play the game in terms of the players, the effort and the intensity that we wanted to play on a daily basis. And I took a lot from that.
“He’s a great communicator. He does a wonderful job with getting his message across, and he can do it with stories and different things like that. But he’s done a really good job with that.
“But he’s very impactful. You don’t get to the spot where he is, the best coach in college football, for no reason. He certainly is that.”
Saban retired from coaching in January after a career in which he won seven national championships, including six with Alabama.