Is This Louisiana Song Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban’s Favorite?
There was a time when Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban was very well-liked, no he was loved, in Louisiana. That of course was when he was the head man of the LSU Football program and led the Tigers to a National Championship. If I recall there were people ready to build the man a statue in almost every city in the state following the Tigers' win over Oklahoma to round out the 2003-2004 NCAA football season.
Wow, that was 20 years ago.
You might recall Coach Saban left LSU for the NFL and then moved on to a university located in a small town in Alabama. It was at that time most fans of Nick C'est Bon started to refer to the former coach as Nick Satan. Some of us still do.
The last I heard Coach Saban was doing quite well at that other school, I think he might have a future there. But this article isn't about elephants and a toxic tide this is about how Nick Saban still leans on something from Louisiana to help him get the job done. That something is music.
In the world of college football, recruiting is what makes or breaks a team. Often times a coach will go to visit a young man in his home and that coach has to do a "sales job" not only on the athlete but the athlete's parents. One of the ways Coach Saban shows his relatability is through dancing. Yeah, Nick Saban is a dancer, and guess what one of his favorite jams to dance to is?
You probably recognized the subtle strains of Lafayette Louisiana's own Cupid and his worldwide mega-hit, the Cupid Shuffle. And yes, that is Nick Saban circa 2016 moving to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right. Did I get those lyrics right, Bryson?
In a story reported on Al.com, it was revealed that on a recent recruiting trip this year Coach Saban even did a little number to the Wobble. In the article, Coach Saban suggested that it was his West Virginia upbringing that lead him to learn the modern dances of today's youth.
The 71-year-old coach told the SEC Network's Marty & McGee that growing up in a small West Virginia town dancing was all they had to do. Saban told the program the choices were and we are paraphrasing his remarks here, Hang out on the river, go to the movie theater, or attend the dance held at the firehouse every other Saturday.
So he learned to dance so he could get a date. He told Marty & McGee he is not a karaoke singer, he's a dancer. And I hear he might be pretty good at coaching football too.
And as much as we don't care for Auburn's little brother on the football field, we do admire their coach's taste in music. You can take the coach out of Louisiana but you can never take the Louisiana out of the coach.
By the way, Alabama and LSU will meet on the football field on November 4th this season. The warning has already gone out for anyone who is planning a wedding for that weekend. And if for some reason you find yourself at a wedding when you should be watching football, ask them to play the Cupid Shuffle, I hear if you play it three times while looking in the mirror the ghost of Mike Shula will appear and lose six games.
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