"You never know who's watching."
It's a phrase veteran coaches often say to their younger acolytes, an admonishment to always put their best foot forward, because every action is an opportunity to imprint their character (or lack thereof) on a potential future boss or colleague.
But it's a phrase that flows both ways.
Like, say, from a young girl to to the most accomplished head coach in college football history.
As Nick Saban explains here, he got a reminder to modulate* his sideline behavior from his own granddaughter.
1. Didn't we all know the unnamed assistant was going to be Lane before the video gave us proof?
2. The reason for the asterisk above is that I say modulate, not control, because, well, this went down during Alabama's most recent game.
In fact, this season opened with Miss Terry sentencing Nick to 20 minutes on the treadmill for picking up an unsportsmanlike conduct flag in Alabama's 35-3 win over Duke.
Hey, nobody's perfect.