My latest National Sports Journalism Center column is an interview with Armen Keteyian on the reporting he did for his new book.

Here’s an excerpt:

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Armen Keteyian called Jeff Purinton, the Alabama associate athletics director and the gatekeeper to Nick Saban.  Keteyian explained he was working on a book on college football and requested to talk to Wesley Neighbors, a low level staffer for Saban. He wanted to talk to Neighbors for a profile of how Saban operates at Alabama.

“Jeff said, ‘That’s not going to happen,’” said Keteyian, noting the coach is known for not making his staff available.

Keteyian, though, did a piece on Saban for CBS while the coach was with the Miami Dolphins. They formed a rapport. Saban hadn’t forgotten how he was treated by Keteyian.

Sure enough, a few days later, Purinton called back Keteyian. He told him Saban gave the OK to talk to Neighbors.

“Jeff said, ‘What do you have on Nick?’” Keteyian said. “I said, ‘I don’t have anything on Nick.’ What I had was his trust.”

Trust and relationships were at the core of the reporting Keteyian and Jeff Benedict did for their new book, “The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football.” The book isn’t an expose about the evils of the sport, although there’s plenty in there that might make you want to take a shower after reading it.

Rather, it is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes portrait of how college football works, for better and worse. Each chapter details another inside look into the game from the perspective of coaches, players, prominent boosters, insiders, and people who have benefitted and been burned by “The System.”

Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel had a terrific label for the book’s approach: “Saturation reporting.”

Indeed, the book is a journalism lesson on the importance of access. How did the authors get to spend so much time with the normally reclusive Saban? How did they convince a former Tennessee female student, known as “The Closer” to open up for the first time about the hostess role in recruiting players? How did they land an interview with all the principals involved in an assault case at Missouri?

Keteyian has a simple mantra in his reporting.

“Trust equals access. Access equals information. Information equals perspective,” Keteyian said.

Keteyian said he had to “cash in a few of his credibility chips” to gain access to subjects in the books. He and Benedict worked months to land interviews with NCAA investigators.

“If the NCAA doesn’t trust you, you’re not getting in the door,” said Keteyian, adding, “I’m pretty good at getting people to trust me.”

The same holds true for Benedict. Keteyian says his co-author has a certain “honesty and integrity” that resonates with his subjects. The chapter about the Missouri assault case hit home even more because everyone talked.

“Nobody is going to throw their doors open and say, ‘Come see us so we can talk about the assault case (at Missouri),” Keteyian said. “We are in the trust business. If you get their trust, doors open.”