Nick Saban, widely considered the greatest coach in college football for coaching storied programs against some of the fiercest possible competition, has been at Alabama for 17 years and won six national championships. He announced on Wednesday night that he would retire after his accomplishments.
In a statement released by the school, Saban said the university is a “very special place” for him and his wife, noting that it’s not the number of wins or losses, but the process of his accomplishments and the team’s continued success. is the most important thing to him, he added.
“The goal has always been to help our players create more value for their future, become the best players they can be and be more successful in life, because they are part of the program. ” he said. “Hopefully, now that I’ve been able to do that, I will continue to consider Alabama home.”
With his last win in 2020, Saban has seven national titles (he previously won one at LSU), pushing him past another Alabama standout, Bear Bryant, as the winningest coach, according to Sports. He created a legend of reaching the highest peak of the world.
Saban, 72, retires with 292 wins, fifth all-time and the most of any active manager. He won 12 conference championships, won more than 80 percent of his games, and earned a total of 17 national and conference Coach of the Year awards.
He has led the Crimson Tide to winning seasons every year since 2008, giving Alabama something no other coach before him has. It’s the Heisman Trophy, which has had four winners in that span, most recently Bryce Young in 2021.
Saban’s newest Alabama team defeated eventual national champion Michigan State 12-2 in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Rose Bowl, losing in overtime 27-20 and ending in 2023. Finished the season.
Before joining the University of Alabama in 2007, Saban attended college at LSU (2000-2004), Michigan State (1995-99), Toledo (1990) and played in the NFL (2005-06) with Miami. He was the coach of the Dolphins. He had a 292-71-1 record at the collegiate level and had five wins revoked by the NCAA as punishment for players who gave free textbooks to other students. Saban won his SEC title 11 times (he had two with LSU, he had nine with Alabama) and appeared in a bowl every year with this program. His bowl record at the University of Alabama was 16-7.
Saban was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. He has won his SEC Coach of the Year Award five times, the Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award twice, the AP College Football Coach of the Year Award twice, and the Paul Poll Award twice. Masu. He has won numerous awards, including the “Bear” Bryant Award.
Saban was a quarterback in high school, returned to defense in college, and the defensive back group remained his baby during his time at Alabama. However, his versatility in coaching each position was one of his less obvious areas of expertise. Since his tenure at Alabama began in 2007, no school has taken more first-round NFL Draft picks than Alabama (44), and that number is expected to increase with the 2024 draft in April. . All told, 123 players have been selected to NFL teams under Saban at Alabama, and his four Heisman winners include quarterback Young and running back Mark Ingram II in 2009. , Derrick Henry in 2015, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith in 2020, including players at three different positions.
Saban has coached more Heisman winners than anyone.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne called Saban one of the greatest players of all time in any sport. “It was a real honor to sit in the front row with the greatest player of all time,” Byrne said.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said, “Knowing Nick, he’s not going to walk away from the game. He’s going to step away from the role. I think Nick has perspective. His agent I called him and he said he was looking forward to talking. … I hope he takes the call and shares his thoughts from time to time about the big picture of college football.”
In 2022, Saban signed his final contract with the Crimson Tide. The contract was worth a total of $93.6 million and was scheduled to run for eight years until 2030.
There was no more perfect match than Saban, the biggest name in the sport, and Alabama, perhaps the most famous brand of college football in America. As the game progresses, we’ll also see a coach get closer to his win total and possibly the championship. But the aura Saban and Alabama have together may never be matched again.
Alabama fans held him in the utmost respect, and opposing fans continued to respect his sustained level of success, even as they feared him and his team. And regardless of love, hate, or every emotion in between, Saban and his team were the sport’s must-see players and the ultimate measuring stick for opposing programs.
Saban’s retirement immediately raised the question of who would be next to coach Alabama.
This job is widely considered to be one of the best, if not the best, jobs in college football, considering it has had one of the longest and most sustained successes in college football’s modern era. With it will come enormous resources, the highest expectations, and no shortage of attention. Coaches who could be eyed for the post include Oregon coach Dan Lanning, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, Washington State coach Karen DeBoer, and Florida State coach Including coach Mike Norvell.
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And that player could be on the move as the program looks for a new leader. Prior to Saban’s retirement, the Alabama player’s transfer window was closed. But Saban’s move reopened it for another 30 days. To date, Alabama has made 17 transfer portal entries between scholarship players and walk-ons.
Most intriguing are the players who just completed their freshman seasons and the 2024 early enrollees, many of whom were drawn to the allure of playing for Saban. Five-star rookie wideout Ryan Williams retired immediately after Saban left on Wednesday.
Still, the University of Alabama has one of the most attractive rosters in college football, with the No. 1 roster composition according to the 247Sports Composite. Alabama’s coaching search is a top priority, but that coach’s main job is attracting and retaining talent.
Saban will leave Alabama as the school’s winningest coach, but he will forever be associated with Bryant, who spent 25 years at the school, mostly in the 1960s and ’70s. Bryant took Alabama to new heights during that era, and while Alabama continued to win after him, they didn’t see a comparable performance until Saban arrived.
And Saban went even further than that.
Saban’s wife said in a statement posted on Facebook through the Knicks Kids Foundation that she hopes Saban’s legacy will be to help others in their lives and win on the field. The foundation was founded in 1998 while Saban was at Michigan State University, but its biggest impact was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Mr. Saban and his wife Terri have lived there since 2007, and he has donated more than $11 million to various organizations and causes to improve the quality of the university. Living in the community.
“The rules of football may change, but the ‘process’ never goes out of style: hard work, discipline, the constant pursuit of worthy goals, cutting no corners, and getting things right for society. Do it in a way that is continuous personal improvement,” she said. “It’s not for the scoreboard.”
Saban has few winning contemporaries, but he has long moved the needle with all his thoughts and opinions. In recent years, the college sports industry has swelled with an increase in television contracts, and controversy has arisen over football’s postseason structure, transfer rules, and the emergence of legal backing for players through name, image, and likeness (NIL) contracts. It is shown that.
“Colleges don’t have contracts, they don’t have competitiveness. There’s no salary cap, it’s okay,” Saban said on his weekly radio show in November. “Whoever wants to raise the most money and pay the most players will have the best opportunity to build the best team.
“In other words, just because school A has a larger population and pays more money for its students, it gives them a better opportunity than school B, which doesn’t have the same resources. “The competitiveness is not balanced. So the haves will advance further here and the have-nots will advance further here,” he said.
Saban helped players use NIL to create more value for themselves, eventually leading Alabama to start and run its own NIL collective.
This was another sign of Saban’s ability to continue winning and adapting to all the changes in college football, including student-athlete rules and the transition from the BCS to the College Football Playoff. He won national titles in his 2000s, 2010s and 2020s and took advantage of changes in the sport to extend his dominance.
Alabama’s initial offense under Saban was designed around a one-back running scheme and a strong offensive line. By the end of his tenure, Alabama had become an innovator in offensive space using spread formations and run-pass option schemes.
Saban deservedly entered into perhaps his best coaching job ever, but ironically, it didn’t result in a national championship. Alabama’s 2023 roster, like all of Saban’s teams, featured a number of prospects and players facing high expectations, but it suffered its biggest non-conference home loss since 2007. They tried to bounce back from the loss to Texas and the quarterback controversy that made them one of the top teams in the world. The biggest topic in the sports world. Alabama was at a crossroads just three weeks into the season.
What happened next was one of Saban’s best psychological jobs to date, coming out publicly and supporting quarterback Jalen Milroe, acknowledging outside criticism of the team and then turning it inside. He relied on a never-before-used trick to motivate his team while using it as fuel. When Alabama needed a win over Kentucky to clinch the SEC West championship, Saban placed mousetraps in the football facility and locker room and warned players not to get caught in the “trap game.” did.
The highlight of the season was a win over No. 1 Georgia, which was on a 29-game winning streak, clinching the final spot in the College Football Playoff. Although Alabama fell short to Michigan in the Rose Bowl, Saban said after the game that it was one of the best seasons in Alabama history, a team that will never be forgotten, and Saban was like no other team. He said it was a team that showed a different side to him. .
“I wouldn’t say it’s generous, but he’s more open to us,” senior safety Malachi Moore said. “He talks to us a lot. I think he’s told more jokes this year than I’ve ever heard him. So it’s really great that we were able to bring that side out of him. It was good. I think a little of it was because of us.”
Now, Alabama, and the entire sports world, is forced to turn the page with an impossible question: Who will replace Saban?
The answer may seem complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. There is no replacement for Nick Saban.
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Chris Vannini, Bruce Feldman, and Alex Andrejev also contributed to this article.
(Photo: Justin Ford/Getty Images)
