Head games

HOOVER - Nick Saban came to understand the mysteries of the human psyche by studying the best.

No, not Skinner or Freud. Think golden shoes and slick hair.

"I'm from West Virginia, man," Saban said smiling. "We don't even know who Freud is up there."

Saban, who admittedly "putzed" around with a graduate school concentration in sports psychology, gleaned much of his expertise in the field by reading Michael Johnson's book, "Slaying the Dragon" and from the philosophies of Rick Pitino and Pat Riley.

Psychology remains an interest for the Alabama coach, who spoke at length Thursday at SEC Media Days about his team's consistency - or the lack of it - a trait he referenced 11 times during his 40-minute press conference and an area he considers his team's greatest challenge going into his second season.

By Saban's assessment, his team played one consistent game - a rout of Tennessee - during a season of blown leads, including a loss to national champion LSU after holding a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The remedy might be more of a mental issue than a physical one.

"Anybody can run through the line, but it's all the mindset of how you get through the line," safety Rashad Johnson said. "It makes it a lot more difficult to finish if you don't get your mind right before the season. It's something they've been wearing on us all summer, and I think guys are actually starting to get their minds to where they know how to finish."

Saban, who employed the services of sports psychologists to counsel his players at LSU and Michigan State, had players attend "mental conditioning" and "character development" classes held by the Pacific Institute, a think-tank that advises corporations by "focusing on the impacts of leadership and culture on performance."

"I think it really starts with who you are, you know," Saban said about how to improve consistency. "I'm talking about our players. We're trying to develop the best possible habits that we can in our players to be successful."

Johnson said the discipline it takes to succeed in finishing on the field is the same kind that will help Alabama players avoid legal run-ins off the field. With the arrest of former Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns for the sale of cocaine last month, 10 Tide players have been arrested since Saban took the helm.

"I definitely think the mental aspect has a lot to do with on and off the field issues," said Johnson, who was arrested in February on a disorderly conduct charge that was eventually dismissed. "You have to be mentally focused to keep yourself out of trouble off the field and to keep going to class."

Caldwell said he has noticed a change in the team's mentality.

"It's been incredible. It's exactly what it says - building up guys not only on the field, but off the field," said Caldwell, who served a four-game suspension last season during the university's probe into the illegal distribution of textbooks."

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@timesdaily.com.