Last night, while we were waiting for the New York Yankees rain delay to end, there was a story on ESPN about Nick Saban, the head coach of Alabama Football. I’m not a fan of Alabama Football, nor am I not a fan. And I know of Nick Saban, but after watching this short story, I’d really like to know more.

In a nutshell, the story was about 5 head coaches who were egregiously fired and then, ultimately, hired by Saban. They weren’t hired back at their old salary (not even close), and they weren’t given glamorous roles or titles, but they were picked up when no one would even look their way. Each one of them said, “If it wasn’t for Nick Saban…”. Four of the five moved on to become head coaches again and one remains with Saban at Alabama. 

To all my leaders out there, is anyone putting your name in the blank space, “If it wasn’t for ____”? This isn’t about hiring someone, we’ve all delivered that kind of help. No, this is about hiring someone when no one will look at them. This is about offering second chances. This is about believing in someone when they no longer believe in themselves. We live in a disposable society—everything gets thrown away—even people. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I hope I can live a life that has people saying, “If it wasn’t for Beth Fitzgerald…”!

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth

P.S. One coach went from making $4 mm, to making $30,000 and he still says that he owes his comeback to Nick Saban. We need to chew on this for a while.