New Book Details Nick Saban’s Reaction to 9/11 While Coaching LSU

A new book about college football is coming out this month, and its including some incredible behind-the-scenes stories. These tales include some of the biggest names in the history of college football...like legendary coach Nick Saban.

The Book is called 'The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football's Era of Chaos' and is written by legendary sports journalist Armen Keteyian and Alabama reporter John Talty. Amazon describes the book like this:

"The Price is a sweeping, in-depth, thought-provoking look at an inflection point in big-time college football. Six time New York Times bestselling author Armen Keteyian and award-winning national college football reporter John Talty conducted more than two hundred wide-ranging interviews with head coaches, athletic directors, conference commissioners, administrators, politicians, power brokers, agents and media executives from one corner of the sport to the other. They reveal never-before-reported details on major players such as Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher, and Lane Kiffin. Keteyian and Talty’s reporting also lays bare the machinations that destroyed the historic conference that was the Pac-12, purely in the name of greed."

While some are glued to the story about Saban's issues with current Ole Miss Head Football Coach Lane Kiffin, LSU fans have been drawn to a tale about Saban's time in Baton Rouge. In particular, a story about how Saban reacted on the morning of September 11th, 2001.

Everyone knows the tragic events that unfolded that morning in New York City. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center gripped the nation, and while President George W. Bush was landing at Barksdale Air Force Base on Air Force One, LSU was preparing for practice in Baton Rouge.

According to reports about the book's content, Saban was informed by his secretary about the attacks in New York. According to a report from The Daily Mail, the book describes how Saban reacted while preparing with his staff, with a quote attributed to Saban reading:

"Boys, there are some screwed-up people in the world.

Now, what are we going to do when we're in Cover Two against these routes?"

As the story goes, Saban and his team held normal practice, with many players having no idea about what had taken place in New York. Saban did not address the attacks directly with the team, and continued to prepare for the upcoming game with Auburn (which would end up getting cancelled).

Eventually, Saban apologized for "having his head in the sand", and agreed that it was the right idea to have the Auburn game cancelled.