Two of football’s greatest coaches of all time, Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, once shared a sideline in the NFL. From 1991-94, Saban served under Belichick as defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.
There’s no doubt that Saban and Belichick now employ similar coaching styles. But back during this shared coaching stint, the two coaches apparently didn’t always see eye to eye.
During his weekly appearance with Hey Coach on 95.3 The Bear and Tide 100.9, the now-Alabama head coach told a hilarious story about his coaching days under Belichick in Cleveland.
Saban said Belichick would frequently make him change his defensive play calls after they’d already been signaled. In fact, Saban claims that this once caused the Browns to lose a game.
To combat this issue, Saban created a secret system with star linebacker Pepper Johnson.
“I said ‘Look Pepper. I’m going to give you a signal, and you touch your face mask when you get the signal.’ If Bill wants to change after that we’re done,” Saban explained. “I’m gonna say ‘[Pepper] looked away. I can’t give him another signal.’
“And that’s how we operated the rest of the time.”
The longtime Crimson Tide leader then said that he’d never revealed this secret to Belichick, his longtime friend. He jokingly added that if his former head coach found out, he “probably would’ve killed” him.
After his coaching tenure under Belichick, Nick Saban went on to serve as a head coach for Michigan State, LSU and the Miami Dolphins before taking over at Alabama in 2007.
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