Tuscaloosa Mayor Praises Legacy Of Saban Family

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox was in an economic development meeting Wednesday when everyone's phones started going off.

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The longtime mayor has helped the city weather a devastating tornado and the COVID-19 pandemic, but little could prepare city leaders and the community for the earth-shattering announcement that Alabama head football coach Nick Saban was retiring.

"We've all known this day was coming," Maddox said Thursday. "There's of the duality of feelings there, the sadness that he's gone in terms of coaching but you can't help but feel good for him and Miss Terry because of what the Sabans have meant to us as a community. It's like the economic side, it's immeasurable."

Maddox was sworn in as the city's mayor in 2005, just a couple of years before Saban touched down in Tuscaloosa and reflected on what has become known as "Sabanomics" — the term used to underscore the rapid growth seen in Tuscaloosa during the tenure of the legendary coach.

Since 2007, median home prices in Tuscaloosa have ballooned and the university's student population continues to shatter enrollment records year after year. These are just some of the positives lauded by Maddox and others following the historic revelation.

"In 15 of the 17 years he was here, they were ranked No. 1 at some point," Maddox pointed out/ "That's a phenomenal stat but that also means Tuscaloosa was talked about across the nation.
It is immeasurable what he has been able to do and the university is the sun of our economic solar system here and he's been a big part of the university's growth. If there was a Mount Rushmore for Tuscaloosa, Coach and Miss Terry would be on it."

When asked about the moment he knew Saban would change the city's fortunes for the better, he reflected on the throng of hysterical Alabama fans at the airport and the large police presence required to get the new Crimson Tide head coach from the airport to the football offices.

"I think we realized then this was going to be a different type of situation and thank goodness that the dominoes fell the way that they did," he said.

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