At one end of the kitchen table sat Nick Saban, fresh off a failed cameo with the Miami Dolphins. At the other sat Flint Southwestern Academy senior running back Mark Ingram, his mother and his grandfather.
It was the fall of 2007, less than a year into Saban’s tenure at Alabama. His program, currently the greatest dynasty in sports, was in disarray.
The Alabama of today, an overwhelming winning mechanism, was nothing more than an elaborate dream. The Alabama of old, a program of championships and tradition and a certain standard, had been lost.
In an effort to alter course, Saban made the 820-mile trek to Ingram’s home in Flint, Michigan.