It goes like this: Saban was running the Crimson Tide through a spring practice in 2013, at which point he was at the peak of his powers (he\u2019d won three of the last four national championships). During drills, a staffer informed Saban he had a call from his mother, Mary, that couldn\u2019t wait. Apprehensive, Saban took the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe says \u2018brother\u2019\u2014everyone from West Virginia calls each other \u2018brother\u2019\u2014\u2018Brother, I just wanted to let you know I just made a hole-in-one and you\u2019ve never made one,\u2019\u201d Saban told McMurphy. \u201cYes, she really called me during practice to tell me she made a hole-in-one.”<\/p>\n
Later in the story, Saban said Mary claimed to be able to call plays better than him. She died in 2024<\/a> at 92, having worked for West Virginia\u2019s Secretary of State and elsewhere for decades.<\/p>\n Dabo Swinney\u2019s mom survived and thrived in spite of misfortune as a child and adult<\/p>\n Swinney, Clemson\u2019s coach of 18 years, has told his mother Carol McIntosh\u2019s story at multiple<\/a> points in his tenure<\/a>\u2014always fondly but never romantically. First, McIntosh overcame a childhood diagnosis of polio that landed her in a body cast for over a year. Then, after Swinney was born, his father Ervil suffered financial losses, drank excessively, and became violent toward McIntosh. After McIntosh left Ervil, the family\u2019s financial situation deteriorated so much that McIntosh briefly lived with Dabo while he studied at (and later played for) Alabama.<\/p>\n “Dabo was a very positive person, always saw the good and thought he could make it work. He was no different then than he is now. He kept me laughing and motivated me, even in my darkest days,\u201d McIntosh told ESPN\u2019s Mark Schlabach in January 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for all that you sacrifice to see that I have everything,\u201d Dabo wrote his mother for Valentine\u2019s Day as a young man in a note shared with Schlabach. McIntosh turned 80<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n Bear Bryant\u2019s mom inspired a ubiquitous telephone commercial in the Deep South<\/p>\n Most fans readily associate Bryant with the Crimson Tide and the state of Alabama, but he was actually a native of rural Arkansas\u2014the 11th of 12 children, born when his mother Ida Kilgore Bryant was in her late 30s. Ida wanted him to enter the clergy, but Bryant had been a terrific end for the Crimson Tide and embarked upon a long coaching career. His mother died in 1954, shortly before Bryant\u2019s first season at Texas A&M.<\/p>\n Decades later, Bryant\u2014now the successful head coach at Alabama\u2014recorded a warmly received commercial for South Central Bell<\/a> (a regional telephone company) in which he discussed encouraging his players to keep in touch with their families.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you called your mama today?\u201d he asked in the ad. \u201cI sure wish I could call mine.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan Lanning\u2019s mom traded the city for the country with her children in mind<\/p>\n As hard as it is to remember now, the Oregon coach\u2014a 36-year-old first-time boss\u2014was a bit of an unknown quantity before taking over the Ducks before the 2022 season. To gain insight into Lanning, veteran Oregon sportswriter John Canzano<\/a> talked to his parents in August of that year. Both of his parents were longtime teachers\u2014father Don science, mother Janis English (Janis remains an avid writer<\/a> on Christian topics).<\/p>\n In the late 1980s, the Lannings took a considerable leap of faith, moving from Kansas City to the rural Richmond, Mo., area\u2014and vowing to stay there until all their children had finished school, making a \u201cpromise to the Lord and to ourselves and to our children.\u201d Dan\u2019s maternal grandfather, Oswald Tanner, had hundreds of acres of property there.<\/p>\n The city mice seemed to transition to country mice perfectly, however. Dan grew up, played for NAIA William Jewell, rose through the coaching ranks, and never forgot his roots\u2014which included (seriously) a turn as Orin Scrivello in a school production of Little Shop of Horrors.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it be a team, a school play, a church activity, he had a high calling and demanded a lot of himself,\u201d Janis told Canzano. \u201cHe worked at bringing everyone else along with him, too. He wasn\u2019t domineering. He was always very encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n Frank Beamer\u2019s mom told him to keep winning on her deathbed\u2014and Beamer did<\/p>\n Like Lanning, Beamer grew up on a farm, coming of age in the dot town of Fancy Gap, Va. And like Lanning, the legendary Virginia Tech coach\u2019s mother was a teacher. One key difference: Herma Beamer was born in 1918, so per this 2015 story by Jimmy Robertson<\/a> for the Hokies\u2019 website, much of her work was done in one-room schoolhouses.<\/p>\n Herma supported Frank throughout his 29-year career, until she fell ill during the 2004 season. As her heart faded, Herma\u2019s instructions to Frank were clear, per Jim Reedy of the Washington Post:<\/a> keep coaching, keep winning.<\/p>\n Herma died on Nov. 18, 2004 at the age of 86, and Frank did just that. Hours after her death, No. 15 Virginia Tech demolished Maryland 55\u20136; his players presented him with two game balls afterward. One for Frank, one for Herma.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take that just like she was our mother,\u201d Hokies quarterback Bryan Randall said after the game.<\/p>\n
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