Mr. CFB: Nick Saban Exits After His Best Coaching Job--Ever
Not long after he got the job as the head football coach at Alabama in 2007, I sat with Nick Saban in his office in Tusacloosa. He was a bit irritated.
Why?
"All I've heard the last couple of days is people talking about winning a national championship," said Saban. "We haven't done a damn thing yet to even THINK about winning a national championship."
Welcome to "The Process," Saban's core philosophy, in football and in life.". Simply put: It's not the will to win. It's the will to PREPARE to win."
Then I asked him what would be his biggest challege coaching at place where the standard--national championship or bust--never changes. Then he said: "Making people understand that there will be only one voice in this program and that will be mine."
Mission accomplished.
For 17 magical seasons, Saban was the clarion voice of the game, winning 11 SEC championships and six national championships. Add another national championship in 2003 at LSU and 295 wins overall and you have a coaching resume that will never be equaled.
Gus Malzahn was 3-5 against Saban as the head coach at Auburn from 2013-2020. Those three victories came in 2013 (when Auburn played for the national championship ), 2017 (when Alabama won the national championship) and 2019.
"It was an honor to coach against him," said Malzahn, now the head coach at UCF. "Because when you coached against him you knew you were going against the the best that has ever done it."
The most famous of those Malzahn wins over Saban came in 2013 when Auburn's Chris Davis returned a missed Alabama field goal 109 yards fo a touchdown on the last play of the game. It gave Aubun a 34-28 victory and knocked No. 1 Alabama out of a chance to win the SEC championship and the national championship. It was a devastating loss for Saban and Alabama, which was going for its third straight national title.
"What I will always remember is how classy he was," said Malzahn, whose 2013 Auburn team lost to Florida State for the national championship. "It didn't matter if he had won or lost. He was a class guy."
And the general consensus is that Saban walks away from the game after the best coaching job of his career.
After a 34-24 loss to Texas in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 9 there were critics who said the game was passing him by. Those critics grew louder after an ugly 17-3 win at South Florida the following week. They said that it was tim for Saban to pass the baton to Kirby Smart, his former assistant who had won two straight national championships at Georgia
But Saban regrouped with his coaches, who changed the offense to take advantage of the strengths of quarterback Jalen Milroe. Then Alabama went on a roll that took the Tide all the way to the SEC championship game where they upset No. 1 Georgia 27-24. The loss snapped the Bulldogs' 29-game winning streak and cost Smart's Bulldogs a shot at a third straight national championship.
The season didn't have the perfect storybook ending as the Tide lost to No. 1 Michigan 27-20 in the CFP semifinals at the Rose Bowl. Alabama had a fourth-and-three to tie the game in overtime but came up short on the last play of the game.
I asked a member of Saban's staff if this was his best coaching job ever. The answer was decidedly "yes."
"He was magical this season," said the coach.
And Saban had a lot of fun doing it.
"He really liked this team," said the assistant coach.
I've covered college football for 46 years. I've seen great coaches come and go. But after watching Alabama be this good for this long when the quality of the game is at this level, simply removes any doubt.
Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time. Period.