He does, however, take his voting responsibilities seriously when it comes time to fill out the USA Today Coaches Poll ballot. Saban is one of the 59 head coaches on the voting panel for the poll that is factored into the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Alabama spokesman Jeff Purinton said Saban will be the only one doing the voting from the program. Coaches in the past have drawn criticism for having other staff members vote in other polls, a practice Steve Spurrier used with his All-SEC ballot. The South Carolina coach had his operations director do the voting, but that will not be the case for Saban's top-25 ballot.
Purinton said he will compile results from other games around the nation to help Saban do his ranking. The coach will be the one phoning in his picks when his ballot is filled out.
• Rumors have been confirmed: ESPN's College GameDay will be kicking off the season with Alabama.
The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game featuring the Tide and Virginia Tech on Sept. 5 will be the backdrop for the weekly preview of the nation's top games. The show known for its wild, live background audience will be broadcast live from Atlanta's Olympic Centennial Park at 9 a.m.
The GameDay crew was also in Atlanta last season prior to unranked Alabama's upset of highly-touted Clemson to open the season.
With this season's game featuring two preseason top-10 teams, the selection of the 2009 kickoff game hardly came as a surprise. One of the show's hosts, Lee Corso, let the show's first location slip in a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
• Rare talk: Alabama coordinators are made available to the media once a season (twice if it makes a bowl.) Sunday's Media Day was the annual Q&A session for offensive coordinator Jim McElwain and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.
McElwain took the opportunity to crack a few jokes while talking about the offense in his second season in charge. The native of Montana told a story about a recent trip back to Polson, where he saw a fan walking down the street wearing a No. 8 (Julio Jones) Crimson Tide jersey.
"I, myself, would have got a No. 12," he said. "To be honest with you, I am a Joe Namath fan."
This year's starting quarterback Greg McElroy will join the long list of Alabama quarterbacks to wear the No. 12.
