TUSCALOOSA | Jim Conrad thought he already knew what Kent State football meant to Nick Saban. He'd been his teammate in the Golden Flashes' secondary long enough to have not only recognized Saban's knowledge, resolve and spirit, but to witness it rub off on other players as well.

But it wasn't until the moment an ankle injury ended Saban's day - and ultimately, his playing career - that Conrad fully understood.

"I remember it very vividly. When he busted his ankle, he insisted on getting off the field by himself. He hobbled off on two hands and one foot," said Conrad, who replaced the future University of Alabama coach in the lineup for the balance of the 1972 season. "That's how tough he was. He didn't want any help getting off the field, and I said, 'Shoot. I'm in.'"

It was Saban's senior year, and the Golden Flashes fell under .500 for the season that day. But by all accounts, there was something about that team - something Saban helped instill - that brought about a season-ending rally for the first and only Mid-American Conference title in school history.

As his former team meets his current team today at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Saban's former teammates recall not only the championship Saban helped win, but the toughness he displayed while doing it. They remember Saban, the player.

"He was a great competitor, just very intense. That was his personality," said Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel, who was a tight end at Kent State during Saban's playing years. "All those characteristics you see as a head coach, he had them as a football player. That injury was very unfortunate."

Saban's ankle gave way in a 28-7 road loss at Northern Illinois, and what eventually became a championship season for Kent State didn't look especially promising at the time.

Not with Saban finished for the year.

Not with two tough conference games still to play on just a five-game conference schedule.

And definitely not with Toledo - which had won 15 MAC games in a row for three consecutive MAC titles entering that season - being one of the two remaining. The other, a win over Miami of Ohio, stands out to Saban even more.

"Jack Lambert was the (Kent State) middle linebacker. We got in a goal-line defense and they had a guy named (Bob) Hitchens who played in the NFL as a tailback," Saban said. "They completed a pass down to the 1-yard line. They needed a touchdown to win, and they went four plays in a row where they ran a lead and he tried to jump over. Lambert was the middle 'backer, and he knocked them back every time."

With Saban on the sideline, Kent State clinched the MAC title with a win over Toledo the following week. With a final record of 6-5-1, the season wasn't without its struggles. But unlike previous Kent State teams, the 1972 Golden Flashes won the games that mattered most.

Saban made an effort to rehabilitate his ankle in time for Kent State's appearance in the Tangerine Bowl against Tampa. But while he practiced with the injury and dressed out for the bowl game, he wasn't well enough to play.

The recurring descriptions of Saban as a player refer to toughness, intelligence and versatility. Conrad said Saban not only knew the responsibilities of his own position, but of those around him. Perhaps not coincidentally, that's a quality Saban appreciates in the leaders of his teams today.

"I learned a lot off of him. He brought me along and pretty much taught me how to play free safety, he and Tommy McDonald, who was a year older than Nick," said Conrad. "He was a cornerback as a sophomore, a strong safety as a junior and a free safety as a senior. By the time he was a senior, he could do everything back there."

Nearly 40 years after his playing days, Saban remains fond not only of Kent State, but of the Mid-American Conference and of his coach at the time, Don James.

Long before James led the University of Washington to six Rose Bowls, including three in a row from 1990-1992, he coached Kent State. Long before his 1991 Huskies team went 12-0 for a national championship, James coached Saban.

And he made as much of an impression as any coach Saban has been around.

"He certainly made football fun - you always felt like you were well-prepared, but we also learned a tremendous amount of lessons in life," Saban said. "A lot of the systems we use, the recruiting system we use now, were well-organized systems that he used with his coaches."

Following Saban's final season, James asked Saban to become a graduate assistant. Saban had never intended to be a coach at the time, but with wife Terry still in school, he decided to stick around.

It didn't take long for the coaching profession to grow on Saban.

"When I was 27, I was at Ohio State saying, 'I'm not doing too bad in what I am doing here for never wanting to do it,' and just kind of kept on," Saban said. "I enjoyed every minute of it and to this day, I don't feel like I'm going to work."

Efforts to reach James were unsuccessful.

James wasn't the only coach to make an impression on Saban at Kent State. The Golden Flashes' secondary coach did as well.

"My position coach, Maury Bibent, who has passed away, was a great mentor to me," Saban said. "Not really in terms of me becoming a coach, but in the kind of person you develop into. I probably would have never been a coach if it wasn't for those two people."

Gerald Tinker will never forget meeting Saban.

In the same year Saban's Golden Flashes won the MAC, Tinker won a gold medal as part of a men's relay team in the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Coming out of Miami Coral Gables High in 1969, Tinker was regarded among the nation's fastest prep athletes. Having arrived at Kent State on a scholarship for both track and football, Tinker made his way to Harbourt Hall, on the east end of campus, to introduce himself to a few players.

"There was one guy in the player's lounge with his feet propped up watching television," Tinker said. "He just looked at me and said, 'Are you that fast guy?' I said 'Yeah, I'm that fast guy.' He said, 'Hi. I'm Nick Saban.'"

Tinker recalls Saban as a man of few words off the field, and one of the teams surest tacklers on it.

"He didn't miss tackles," Tinker said. "He wasn't big, but he wasn't afraid to pound you."

It's been almost 40 years since Saban prowled the secondary at Kent State. And while he has since moved on to much bigger schools, bigger leagues, and even the biggest league of all, he's still known at Kent State for what he did at Kent State.

"Everybody refers to Coach Saban as a Kent State guy," said new KSU coach Darrell Hazell.