A Little Debbie redux, also by Cohen. Hilarious, drinking the day old coffee to get the day started.
Nick Saban Eats Cookies for Breakfast
Nick Saban Eats Cookies for Breakfast
The Alabama coachās obsession with Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies is perhaps the one thing players and fellow coaches know for sure about their boss.
ENLARGE
Head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide PHOTO: RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES
By
BEN COHEN
Jan. 11, 2016 11:08 a.m. ET
6 COMMENTS
Phoenix
Itās not every day that Nick Saban comes over for dinner. So when he visited Alabama wide receiver ArDarius Stewartās home on a recruiting trip, Stewartās mother cooked up a meal for the special occasion. Stewart still remembers what she served: salad, lasagna and a very specifically chosen dessert.
āA lot of oatmeal cream pies,ā he said.
They werenāt any old oatmeal cream pies. They were Little Debbie oatmeal creme pies. And the Alabama coach eats them every morning.
Saban is already the most successful coach of his generation, but a win Monday over Clemson in college footballās national championship would solidify his case as the greatest of all time. Books have been written about him. He has written books about himself. Saban has already accomplished so much at Alabama that the school thought he was worthy of a nine-foot bronze statue outside the football stadium. He has since won two more titles.
But even encyclopedic Alabama fans still know next to nothing about Saban. They have no clue what he likes or dislikes other than winning and losing.
Saban doesnāt Snapchat. He doesnāt tweet. He doesnāt even text. The coach is such a guarded demigod that he can reveal something completely trivialāthat he watches the Weather Channel, for exampleāand it turns into a floor-to-ceiling window into his soul.
Thatās why it was simply jaw-dropping when Saban let it slip that he may be the stateās leading consumer of Little Debbie oatmeal creme pies.
Saban is not an oatmeal-creme-pie kind of guy. The sportās most intimidating coach is someone who seems like he lives off dry toast and black coffee. But it turns out he has a soft spot when it comes to breakfast. He begins every day with sugary cookies sold by a smiling young girl in a straw hat.
The sport has seized on Sabanās unusual addiction. Fans now bring him oatmeal snacks. Recruits have them waiting when he comes to their living rooms. Television networks have made commercials about them. And his colleagues have become accustomed to spotting signs of Little Debbie around the office.
āIāve seen boxes everywhere,ā said Alabama offensive line coach Mario Cristobal.
Itās not quite the breakfast of champions. The oatmeal creme pies are what they sound like: a thin layer of vanilla cream sandwiched by cookies. āI donāt know how you can go wrong with that combination,ā said Mike Gloekler, a spokesman for McKee Foods, which owns Little Debbie.
Sabanās players said this week that the treat is too sweet for their tastes. Saban hasnāt sold other coaches, either. āIf it doesnāt have peanut butter, hot sauce or ranch, I aināt eating it,ā said Alabama strength coach Scott Cochran.
ENLARGE
Alabama head coach Nick Saban gives directions during team practice for the NCAA Cotton Bowl against Michigan State. PHOTO: LM OTERO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By now, though, Cochran knows not to interfere with Sabanās breakfast habit. With a shot at four national titles in seven seasons, he said, Saban has earned the right to his Little Debbieās.
āHe can eat whatever the heck he wants,ā Cochran said. āIāll feed it to him.ā
It seems the first time Saban spoke about oatmeal creme pies was when he was the Louisiana State coach in 2001. He wakes up before his wife, āso the coffeeās never made,ā he said then. āI have one cup of yesterdayās coffee. I put it on the microwave, punch in 1-1-1, walk out to the road and get the paper, come backābeep, beep, beepāthe coffeeās ready. I get me two Little Debbie cookies, sit down, read the paper and have my coffee.ā
It was as if Saban had said his plays were being called by a kangaroo. There was such an immediate and overwhelming interest in what Saban eats for breakfast that he said two years later he shouldnāt have said anything at all. But then he said more. āIf Iām not motivated for anything else in the morning, Iām motivated to have my two Little Debbie cookies,ā he said. āIām like an alcoholic. I nip a few others during the day. I have a couple at lunch. A couple at night. Maybe with a glass of milk before I go to bed.ā
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Saban isnāt being paid by Little Debbie to say any of this. Bear Bryant shilled for Golden Flake potato chips when he was a legendary Alabama coach, but the only compensation for Saban is edible. Gloekler said a McKee Foods employee, an LSU fan, once took some oatmeal creme pies to Sabanās old home in Louisiana. When he was invited in, Gloekler said, the employee realized Saban didnāt need any more. āHe saw a big jar of them on his counter,ā he said.
Even some of Sabanās players have been spied with Little Debbieās treats. Running back Kenyan Drake couldnāt move after a leg injury last season, and his friends would bring him over snacks since he wasnāt able to shop for himself. Drake eventually returned to the sidelines, and he stashed some food in the basket of his scooter before one game.
āIronically,ā Drake said, āit was the oatmeal creme pies.ā
Alabamans assumed he brought them because of Saban. āI didnāt,ā he said. āI was just hungry.ā
Drake had so many oatmeal creme pies that he gave one to a member of Alabamaās marching band and passed others out to his teammates. Saban never said anything when Drake was caught with Little Debbieās on the sidelines, he said, but the coach may not want to hear the reason Drake had all those leftovers.
āHonestly,ā he said, āIām not a big fan.ā
Write to Ben Cohen at
ben.cohen@wsj.com
