Apr. 5—MORGANTOWN — The state of West Virginia has a rich history of college football, from successful teams to coaches to players. Some of the biggest names in the sport are from West Virginia. One of them happens to be regarded as the greatest coach of all time, Nick Saban, who grew up in Fairmont.
Saban's won seven national championships, 11 SEC Championships and had a 292-71-1 coaching record in college. He's an icon of the sport.
During his four decades coaching, he's had numerous players, one of whom is the Mountaineers' tight ends coach, Michael Nysewander. Nysewander played for Saban from 2011-15 at H-back and tight end, helping Saban to three national championships.
Nysewander compared Rich Rodriguez, who was also born and raised in West Virginia, to the legendary coach.
"It's funny because [Saban ] and coach Rodriguez are very, somewhat similar, in my opinion, " Nysewander said. "I think it's kind of that blue-collar West Virginia type feel."
That's high praise for Rodriguez. Rodriguez has had success, but not to the level of Saban. However, there is some merit to what Nysewander said.
When Nysewander would go into the Saban's office, he'd have his feet up with his shiny shoes on the desk. Saban told Nysewander of how his father grew up in a mining town and how West Virginia made him tough and the way he is.
"He kind of always had that chip on his shoulder type feel that coach Rodriguez, I feel like has too, " Nysewander said. "They're very, very similar as far as how they run a program and stuff."
The success might not be similar, but Nysewander said how they run and build up the program is similar. They know how to create culture.
"I've never seen better culture builders, " Nysewander said. "It's the stuff that doesn't involve really the X's and O's of football. Like Coach Rod is talking about it all the time, the hard edge mentality, working through adversity, things of that nature."
How Saban and Rodriguez orchestrate practice is the same too, and their coaching styles. Both require patience when working under them. Saban and Rodriguez are nitpickers. Rodriguez likes to run practice fast, but won't hesitate to stop everything in its place to point out and fix a mistake.
"Maybe it's intimidating, " Rodriguez said. "He is so attentive to detail on every single play. He may go off on something this second, but then he forgets about it because he's got something else to coach the next play. There's always something to learn."
Rodriguez and Saban both know how to lead a football team, too. Nysewander said both know how to make a boy into a man in the limited time they with the player. Saban's harped on this over his career, and why his players have success at the next level.
"You go from boy to man a lot of times, and having a leader like Coach Saban or coach Rodriguez here, but just drawing that hard edge and handling adversity, that's kind of what builds the teams, in my opinion, " Nysewander said.
Saban and Rodriguez might not be the same in terms of accolades, but being from West Virginia, both lead and have led programs with a blue-collar attitude.
"Maybe there's something in the water up here in West Virginia, " Nysewander said. "With them both being from West Virginia."
