MONONGAH, W.Va. -- There was no grass, no water and not much in the way of sympathy during those marathon two-a-day practices at Monongah High late in the summer of 1968. A then-16-year-old Nick Saban and his teammates were fed a strict diet of salt tablets and discipline by their coach, Earl Keener, and his assistant, Joe Ross. Cut up and bruised by that slab of red clay they called a practice field, they were tough.
There were no days without pads back then, no practices without full contact that anyone could recall. Keener was the kind of detail-obsessed drill sergeant who believed you didn't practice until you got it right, but rather until you couldn't get it wrong anymore.