New receivers coach Derek Dooley is as much of a Nick Saban disciple as Jason Garrett.
Dooley said every coach could use the experience of working for Saban, the University of Alabama coach who also coached at LSU and for two years in the NFL with the Dolphins.
“I spent seven years with Nick .... it was sort of a boot camp for coaching, for a young coach,” Dooley said Thursday at Valley Ranch, where he was introduced to reporters. “And I say that in a real positive way. You know, every young soldier needs boot camp. I was a young coach, and I needed Saban Camp, and it was good. Nick and I are still very good friends. He taught me a lot. And I think every coach you encounter, there’s things you can learn from, good and bad. But he certainly was a great influence.”
Garrett talks frequently about how he has stacks of notebooks filled with what he learned from Saban in Miami, where he and Dooley both worked on the staff.
Dooley said he learned a lot about structure from Saban, a four-time college national championship coach.
“He was just someone who had a real high level of accountability on everybody in the whole organization,” Dooley said. “When somebody’s not doing their part, it can have a greater impact, a ripple effect, that it’s hard to quantify. More than anything, it’s understand what your job is and do your job to the best of your abilities and continue to grow each year. So, lot of things you learn from Nick.”
-- Carlos Mendez
Twitter @calexmendez
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