The Great GOAT Debate: Tom Brady and Nick Saban
A few years ago, a book publisher brought to my attention another project he was working on, "Tom Brady vs. the NFL: The Case for Football's Greatest Quarterback."
"Could you do something similar on Nick Saban?" he asked, pitching me the idea.
This was 2013 mind you. Alabama had just won back-to-back titles, and three in four years. The Crimson Tide had established itself as a dynasty (those of you who have followed my career know that I'm adamant it takes three titles over six years to make the claim in football), and was just beginning to blow away anything college football had ever seen before.
So my answer was no, because Saban was still well behind Bear Bryant's statistical achievements — or at least that's what I thought the research would show.
"However," I continued, "I could make the case that if there was a Mount Rushmore of college football that Saban would already be on it."
That's how the book "Nick Saban vs. College Football" came to be, and I was very thankful that the numbers did, in fact, back up my hypothesis.
Nowadays, I wouldn't have any problem claiming Saban's the greatest coach in college football history considering his accomplishments. That's no disrespect to anyone else, especially Bryant, who remains the bigger icon.
When Saban won his seventh national championship last month, and Brady won his seventh Super Bowl this past week, it go me thinking about which was the bigger accomplishment.
It also got me thinking about those books again.
When Sean Glennon did his version, which was more of a tribute, there was only one part of it that I felt was an absolute must for the Saban edition—the statistical comparisons.
In his original version, Brady was 124-35 during the regular season and 3-2 in the Super Bowl. Now look:
Tom Brady
Regular-season record: 230-69-0
Winning percentage: 76.9
Postseason record: 34-11
Winning percentage: 75.6
Overall record: 264-80-0
Winning percentage: 76.7
NFL passer rating: 90.4
Touchdown percentage: 5.5 (4.7 in postseason)
Interception percentage: 1.8 (2.2 in postseason)
Touchdowns/Interceptions: 581/191
Completion percentage: 64.0
Yards per attempt: 7.5
First-team All-Pro: 3 (2007, 2010, 2017)
League MVP: 3 (2007, 2010, 2017)
Super Bowl MVP: 5 (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, LI, LV)
Super Bowl record: 7-3
Among some of the records Brady's set include most games won by a quarterback, most regular season and playoff passing yards combined (91,653), most game-winning drives (61), and most fourth-quarterback comebacks (48).
Brady also has the second-most number of Super Bowl rings of any player/coach/executive in NFL history. The only person with more is his former coach Bill Belichick with eight (six with New England, two with the New York Giants)
Now for Saban.
Unlike with players there are few ways to compare coaches outside of wins and losses, and championships. But they do exist, and I've been keeping a running total on Saban. It led to the Tale of the Coaching Tape series on Bama Central last year.
Nick Saban
Seasons: 25
Consensus national titles: 7
Top five finishes: 10
Top 25 finishes: 18
Overall record: 261–65–1*
Percentage: 80.0
Losing seasons: 0
Bowl record/CFP record: 17-10
Percentage: 63.0
Conference titles: 10
Conference record: 154-44-1 (77.6 percent)
Consensus All-Americans: 47
First-round draft picks: 38
Record against ranked teams: 90-42 (68.2 percent)
Record against Top 10 teams: 45-22 (67.2 percent)
Ratios/percentages
National title seasons One every 3.5 seasons
Consensus All-Americans 1.88 every season
First-round draft picks 1.58 every season
Average wins vs. ranked teams 3.6 each season
Wins over top-10 teams per year 1.8 every season
Among Saban's records include having his team ranked No. 1 at some point of the season for 13 straight years, and since since 2008 the Crimson Tide has played in just three regular-season games in which it wasn't in the national title picture (all in 2010). His teams have spent the most time in history at No. 1 in the polls, and also have the most wins against opponents ranked No. 1.
Moreover, here's the entire list of schools that have had more national titles than Saban since the poll era began in the 1930s: Alabama (which is where he coaches) with 13, and Notre Dame with eight. One of those was a split title, and the Fighting Irish have one just one championship over the last 40 years.
So who's accomplishments have been more impressive? Brady or Saban?
It's comparing Apples to Amazon. One's a player and another's a coach, and at different levels. It's hard enough trying to compare Brady to Michael Jordan or LeBron James, or maybe even Babe Ruth or Wayne Gretzky.
They're just two giants in different realms.
What's telling, though, is putting the numbers next to each other reflects just how how far each has distanced himself from his peers.
Here’s a couple of additional thoughts to leave you with:
• While Brady had Belichick, Saban's had non-stop turnover at the quarterback position, including John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy, AJ McCarron, Blake Sims, Jake Coker, Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones.
• Saban's continued to win even after college football made rule changes initiated to try and slow him down. The NFL did the same with the Patriots, but not to the same extent.
• Saban is 16-3 in championship games (conference and title games). Brady is 17-7 (AFC/NFC and Super Bowl).
Telling Greg Byrne Interview
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne sat in for 90 minutes in the Jay Barker Radio Show on Thursday afternoon and talked about numerous issues:
• On what's next with the Crimson Standard: "The question everyone asks is Coleman Coliseum. We said all along its phase two. We got through phase one, and our initial early plans for phase two we badly want that to happen ... This year has been a challenge. We had a $75 million revenue shortfall."
Byrne did not give a timetable for when phase two might potentially begin, but said improving the facility was still a priority.
"We can't lose sight of that, we have to continue moving forward. There's a lot of momentum right now."
• Scheduling: Even though he liked the 10-game league schedule this past football season, Byrne doesn't see the SEC changing from its current eight-game format anytime soon.
However, with Alabama embracing playing high-profile home-and-home series' instead of having neutral-site openers the long-term strategy is to have 10 high-end quality opponents each season.
"I've talked to [SEC commissioner] Greg Sankey about it, I think it's good for college football," he said. "The reality is that we're such a national brand we need to take advantage of that, and that helps us toward our future."
He added: "Ten is about the max you want to have."
• On Alabama's Nike deal: "We're proud of our relationship with Nike ... When we signed the last deal it was the best one in the country. A number of things happened, but you make the best decision that you can at the time and that's what the University of Alabama did. When we have the opportunity to talk about a new contract we're going to do that at the appropriate time. I've known the folks at Nike forever. My dad was AD at Oregon in the 1980s.
"There's an association, being tied to Nike, that has real value to it because of how they're viewed in the sports world."
• On name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation: "It's happening, so I think we have to accept that it's reality," he said. "I do think there are going to be opportunities that are going to benefit the student-athlete. That's a good thing. You always have to have that in the back of your mind when making these decisions."
However, Byrne added there's a misconception about colleges taking advantage of "unpaid labor." Without including anything spent on salaries or facilities, Alabama spends an average of $140,000 a year on each athlete, ranging from their scholarships to medical support.
"Those are real dollars," he said.
Did You Notice?
• Rebuilding Post-Hurricane, McNeese State's Biggest Win This Spring Is Simply Getting to Kickoff
• What to keep an eye on during the NFL offseason
• Eagles Appear All-In on Jalen Hurts as the Starting QB this Season
• This from former Crimson Tide assistant coach Mike Locksley: "This is a wound that doesn’t heal. You just learn to get through it. You never kinda get over it. It’s almost therapeutic for me to talk about.” My story on how Mike Locksley and @TerpsFootball are raising awareness about mental health."
Christopher Walsh's notes column appears weekly on BamaCentral. It'll soon be part of the BamaCentral+ premium section.
