‘Man is tested by the praise he receives’: Why Nick Saban calls compliments “rat poison”
From Proverbs 27, a word against taking praise to heart.
Proverbs 27:21: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.”
Alabama Football Coach Nick Saban has made success look almost easy. Players graduate or leave early for the NFL. Assistants coaches get head coaching jobs and move on. And the Crimson Tide keep rolling.
Moreso even than other football teams, it’s the spirit of complacency and the “rat poison” of praise Saban is up against.
At practice, he warns of rivals and tells which coaches have said what. These are presented as dire threats. It’s a constant state of high-alert.
Then, the players go in for interviews with the media.
They’re asked about players’ NFL Draft prospects, the Heisman Trophy hopeful in the backfield, and the team’s perennial No. 1 ranking. In that air-conditioned room, it’s all so simple.
Beating the opposition is treated as a formality. And so those interviews are another piece of outside noise for Saban to deprogram from players’ brains.
After a close win a few years ago, Saban accused the media of feeding his players the “rat poison” of too much praise.
“I’m trying to get my players to listen to me, instead of listening to you guys. All that stuff you write about how good we are, all that stuff on ESPN, it’s like poison. It’s like taking poison. Like rat poison.”
If Saban’s program is built around a proverb, it’s Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
Nowhere is a lackadaisical attitude toward the next meeting, the next practice or the next opponent accepted at Alabama.
That’s reporter-talk, but it has nothing to do with that locker room. Saban sweeps away the pellets as soon as they are dropped, but can’t always get all of them in time.
Everybody in that locker room was highly recruited. The competition with one another helps Alabama field a team that few others can compete with. Many Alabama players have said games are easier than practices.
Proverbs offers many urgings to accept correction and discipline from our leaders. We have a lot to learn from each other. There is a value in tough love.
The Bible sees flattery and praise as more worrisome. In Nick Saban’s locker room, they are rat poison.
Beware flattering words. They have a way of distracting us from the process that brought success.
“Man is tested by the praise he receives.”