It was around Christmas in 1989 when Pat Perles got the call he suspects might have been the first one Nick Saban made. This was how it all began.

The coaching business is no doubt a fraternity of sorts, and a close one at that. But Saban's former assistants talk about a level of loyalty and closeness that suggests an even tighter circle.

Saban assistants say the recruiting trail is where a lot of the lighter, at-ease moments occurred in their time under the coach.