College Football News: Nick Saban Retires From Alabama

Saban is considered the all-time greatest college football coach. He won seven national titles. One is with the LSU Tigers, and six are with the Alabama Crimson Tide. The news came a little over a week after his team lost to Michigan, the eventual National Champions, in the Rose Bowl 27-20 in overtime. Who knew at the time that would be the last game Nick Saban would coach ever in his career?

The 72-year-old coach did some of his best coaching work this season with Alabama. He took a team nobody thought would do much after week two and brought them all the way to the playoff. Along the way, Saban won his 11th SEC Championship with the Crimson Tide in addition to his 12th SEC West Title.

“The University of Alabama has been a very special place to Terry and me,” Saban said in a statement. “We have enjoyed every minute of our 17 years being the head coach at Alabama as well as becoming a part of the Tuscaloosa community. It is not just about how many games we won and lost, but it’s about the legacy and how we went about it. We always tried to do it the right way. The goal was always to help players create more value for their future, be the best player they could be and be more successful in life because they were part of the program.

“Hopefully, we have done that, and we will always consider Alabama our home.”

Saban just completed his 17th season at Alabama. He won 201 games which is tied with Vince Dooley of Georgia for second most wins at a single school in SEC history. He trails only Bear Bryant, who 232 games in his 25 seasons at Alabama.

Bryant brought Alabama to national heights, and once Saban got there, he did the same.

“Simply put, Nick Saban is one of the greatest coaches of all time, in any sport, and The University of Alabama is fortunate to have had him leading our football program for the past 17 seasons,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said in a statement. “He is the consummate coach, mentor and leader, and his impact is felt far beyond the football field. … . While his time as our coach may have come to an end, his legacy will live on forever. What an honor it has been for us to have a front-row seat to one of the best to ever do it. A truly remarkable career for Coach Saban.”

Saban informed his players of his decision before he the news broke to the media. As a matter of fact, Saban was lining up assistant coaches the day before he announced his retirement. Safe to say this was shocking to those inside the college.

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However, the college football landscape has changed with the transfer portal, tampering, and NIL as tools of recruiting now. Alabama still had one of the best recruiting classes this year, but Saban is about building a team. He does not want to throw money at kids to come to Alabama. Not to mention, the talent at Alabama this season was not as high as we expected them to be.

Saban has been outspoken on the transfer portal and NIL as ways of getting high school players to go to school. He is not a fan of the recruiting calendar being extended. There is no time for him to coach for big bowl games. He told the players this was the right time to retire.

Not to mention it was going to be hard to win a National Title with the new 12-team playoff coming up. Again, Saban is from the old school. I mean, who could forget his first time back to Death Valley when he was the head coach of Alabama? Recall he guided the Tigers of LSU to the BCS National Championship in 2003 before going to the NFL. He came back to the sworn enemy and did damage in the SEC.

He made Alabama relevant again. During his tenure at Alabama, the Crimson Tide made the College Football Playoff eight of the 10 seasons. Of his six National Championships at Alabama, two teams went undefeated. The talent Alabama could produce each season was incredible, especially at the highly skilled position. But the strength was always the defense. 49 players have been selected in the first round, 44 of whom were at Alabama during Saban’s time. The most of any coach in the common draft era.

Saban is 292-71-1 as a college coach, ranking him sixth all-time in the FBS in wins and 12th in NCAA college football history, regardless of division. He led Toledo to a Mid-American Conference championship in 1990, his lone season as that program’s coach.

We talk about coaching trees of legendary coaches. Look at his Steve Sarkisian at Texas, Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, Kirby Smart at Georgia, Dan Lanning at Oregon, Mike Locksley at Maryland, Mario Cristobal at Miami and Brent Key at Georgia Tech. Not to mention one of his friends, his legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick.

Saban just signed a contract extension through February 2030 worth nearly $94 million, which again made him the highest-paid coach in college football.

Whoever takes over for Saban will not have it that easy. There will be high standards to meet, and fans will have to be patient. It is never easy to replace a legend. Especially someone like Nick Saban.

College Football will not be the same without Nick Saban on the sideline. It will be a weird site to see.