Saban's secret weapon: Elko lays out plan for personal success

Saban preaches those philosophies to the Alabama football team on a daily basis, using watchwords such as passion, commitment, discipline, hard work, time management, perseverance and pride in performance. Those principles would seem to be effective, given Saban's .670 career winning percentage as a college coach and track record of turning programs around wherever he has been.

But from time to time, Saban fears his message might grow stale. That's when he switches up the messenger.

Throughout the offseason and the summer, Saban has brought in professional speakers to talk to his team about a variety of issues — from drugs and alcohol to gambling to how to treat the opposite sex. Among those who have visited with the Crimson Tide in recent months are Miami-based media relations expert Lisa LeMaster, compulsive gambling and organized crime expert Michael Francese and former pro-football player and current NFL executive Gene Washington, who discussed life after football.

But the star of the program was once again Kevin Elko, the Pennsylvania-based motivational speaker whom Saban first brought in to speak to his LSU team in 2003. In his most-recent talk with the Crimson Tide, Elko laid out what he described in a May interview with the Mobile Press-Register as his "step-by-step process for winning."

The Alabama players were blown away.

"He was the best speaker I’ve ever heard," Alabama tight end Preston Dial said. "We’ve had great guys come through there, too. He just had everybody on the edge of their seat. Giving true-life stories of things he’s done and things he’s seen others do that proves you can push through it mentally. The first thing that goes is your mind — before your legs.

"One of the things he said is 'worry is praying for the worst.' That’s one thing I’ve really tried to hook on to. You can’t fret about practice and all that cause it’s gonna come. You just gotta make sure you execute. I think that really stuck with a lot of guys on the team."

Part of Elko's presentation involved placing a chair at the center of the stage. Every time he expressed a negative thought, he would sit in the chair. If the thought was positive, he would remain standing.

At the end of the presentation, he held up the chair, legs facing the crowd.

"Then he says 'the lion doesn't attack the lion (tamer) because there are four (legs) on that chair, and it backs up. It doesn't know which one to focus on,'" Saban said. "It's interesting, but it's the way it's presented. And all those things affect players in a positive way. If they just remember two or three things that he talked that affects them, then I think it's worth it."

The Alabama players gave Elko a standing ovation, a rousing compliment from a room full of 18-22 year-olds.

"That was his center point for what he was talking about," safety Rashad Johnson said. "He would use the chair as an example of things that you don't want to do, and things that will tear your team and tear you down. There were a lot of things that the entire team could relate to and we really respected the things he said. He came in and told us like it was."

Said cornerback Javier Arenas, "He was mixed with a comedian, he'd drop a few jokes in. That was his way of keeping us in. He paced the room real nice. He'd talk about something serious and maybe see us slacking off, and then relate a joke to what he was talking about, and kind of wake us back up. He could make it mean something."

The 49-year-old Elko works with numerous professional football teams, beginning with his home-state Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles before branching out to the Miami Dolphins when Saban was their head coach and lately to the Dallas Cowboys. He also speaks regularly with non-sports corporations.

Elko has authored several books, the latest of which "The Pep Talk, A Football Story About the Business of Winning," contains a testimonial from Saban on its back cover. Saban said Elko's message is universal, applicable to any human endeavor, including college football.

"I don't think the messages are different," Saban said. "I don't think that what makes you successful changes; I think how it gets presented is what all these people have come and affect our players — that's the goal of what we're trying to do. ... It's just another way to get your children to do right.

"Here's somebody that's had experiences with pro teams and pro players — whether it's Deion Sanders or T.O. (Terrell Owens) in Dallas, or different guys in Miami, or whatever. Kevin's been involved with us before. So we know him well, he does a fantastic job and has a great message for our players — just about having a positive attitude, knowing what you want to accomplish and what are willing to do, and what are you telling yourself every day."