Nick Saban spent about half a century as a coach before retiring in January at age 72.

Most famous was his time coaching football at Alabama and the 17 seasons in which he won six national championships. But he also had stints at LSU (where he won his first national championship), Michigan State, Toledo and the Miami Dolphins, among other assistant jobs dating back to the early 1970s.

Of course, the way he had to work as a coach also changed over this time. On Friday, Saban appeared on his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show and discussed how, as a coach, he had to change the way he approached players.

“I’ve changed a lot over the years because the players have actually changed in terms of their commitment, what was their intent and why did they go to college? What did they want to achieve? “You had to kind of adjust your program and your approach,” Saban said.

Here is the most specific way:

“You had to get things done…When I first started coaching, if you told a guy to do something, he would run through the wall for you because you said so,” Saban said. “That’s not the case anymore. You have to somehow show these guys what it’s going to do for them.”

Saban added that he needed to show players how what he was telling them would add value to them individually and how being part of a team would benefit them in the long run.