Something tells me the Crimson Tide will be rolling… in tears as they find out that their all-time great college football coach is retiring.
Nick Saban caught everyone off guard with the announcement of his retirement, and if it truly is the end of his coaching career, he’ll undoubtedly go down in history as one of the best to ever do it.
According to ESPN’s Chris Low, Saban is calling it a career, and a quite decorated one at that:
The now 72-year-old Saban was hired to coach the Alabama Crimson Tide back in 2007, and before that had college head coaching stints at Toledo, Michigan State, and LSU (where he won a title in 2003).
He also tested out coaching in the NFL on two separate occasions, once as an defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns under head coach Bill Belichick (isn’t that crazy?), and another time as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2004 to 2006.
Saban really came into his own as a head coach when he accepted the job at the University of Alabama in 2007. It was there with the Crimson Tide that he formed one of the most dynastic teams in all of sports, and coached a team that was basically a shoe in to make it to the national championship year in and year out.
As the head coach for Alabama, Saban won a staggering six national titles. His first three were during the “BCS Era” in 2009, 2011, and 2012, and his last three were in the “College Football Playoff Era” in 2015, 2017, and 2020. Since the CFP started in 2015, Saban and Alabama only ever missed out of the playoffs in 2019 and 2022.
Saban’s record speaks for itself, literally. As a college head coach, he went 292-71-1, and was the first college football coach to lead two different FBS schools to national titles (LSU & Alabama), and joined the legendary Bear Bryant as the only other coach to lead two different SEC schools to SEC championships.
It’ll be weird to watch college football and Nick Saban not be a part of it. For years, Saban’s success at Alabama was easy to root against, but now as the coach synonymous with his sport rides off into the sunset, I’d say college football fans are likely taking a moment to appreciate his greatness.
