Colorado coach Deion Sanders and his relationship with Alabama legend Nick Saban goes well beyond the camera and the pair’s infamous AFLAC commercials. Sanders, who had a public squabble of sorts with Saban over NIL and recruiting in 2022, respects the recently-retired seven-time national champion and seeks advice any chance he gets on life and football.
“He means so much to me personally as a man,” Sanders said in an interview with Joel Klatt. “And just watching him from near and far and being able to have access to pick up a phone and call him whenever I would need him … I hate that we lost him for college football’s sake.”
Sanders complimented Saban’s marriage as well and said his wife, Miss Terry, could teach a “masterclass” on being a supportive spouse.
“I’m like a kid in a darn candy shop,” Sanders said. “I’m sitting Indian-style asking him, ‘Coach, can you tell me about this? Can you tell me about that?’ I’m serious. I just keep it going. All I need is, ‘And?’ That keeps it going… Oh my God, I love him and Terry, his wife Terry. I don’t mean to call her by her first name, Mrs. Saban, she needs to teach a masterclass on how to do it with all the women that are along aside the man.”
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It was Saban’s wife who initially questioned why he was still coaching prior to his retirement earlier this year when she could tell the job had become more than recruiting, developing and mentoring athletes.
“She is unbelievable,” Sanders said. “Just to get your butt kicked and you go back and you look on your phone, and you’ve got a message from Miss Terry. It’s unbelievable.”
Sanders and Saban are brand ambassadors for AFLAC insurance company, and have filmed several themed commercials in the past, sporting the recognizable blue blazers while sitting with the computer-generated duck. In May 2022, Sanders responded to Saban’s notion that Jackson State “paid a guy a million dollars” to sign, a comment directed at five-star wide receiver Travis Hunter flipping from Florida State to the Tigers during the Early Signing Period.
Sanders took exception and responded on Twitter mere hours after Saban’s remarks, mentioning Hunter in the tweet.
“You best believe I will address that LIE Coach SABAN told tomorrow,” Sanders wrote. “I was & awakened by my son @ShedeurSanders that sent me the article stating that WE PAYED @TravisHunterJr a Million to play at @GoJSUTigersFB ! We as a PEOPLE don’t have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE.”
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Sanders opened up about the aftermath in an interview with I AM ATHLETE and later said Saban called to apologize.
