Nick Saban retired on January 10, after seventeen seasons of coaching college football at the University of Alabama. He won a total of seven national titles in his career (six with Alabama and one with LSU).
Saban got his start as a head coach at Toledo 1990, after getting gigs as an assistant at multiple teams, including the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans). He then went to the Cleveland Browns to be a defensive coordinator under the prestigious Bill Belichick for four years. Saban then took the reins at Michigan State, whom he resurrected from one of their worst-performing periods in the program’s existence. He then made his move to the SEC at LSU. He led them to SEC titles in 2001 and 2003, and won the national title in 2003. His success saw him in the NFL, taking the head coaching job at the Miami Dolphins for two seasons.
Finally, in 2007, Nick Saban took the head coaching position at Alabama where he saw the greatest success of his career. He came into a team that had struggled to maintain a solid head coach, being the fifth to take the role in a six year span. Alabama was raised back up to their success of the legendary coach Bear Bryant’s time at the University. Saban achieved six national titles with them and became the second winningest coach with 206 wins behind Bryant who had 232. He also increased the number of high level recruits coming into the university in his time there.
His successor has already been determined to be Kalen DeBoer, who led Washington to the National Championship where they lost to Michigan 34-13. DeBoer transformed this program over the past two years since joining the team, holding an overall record of 25-3, a much improved record from the 4-8 they had received the season previous to his arrival. DeBoer will have massive shoes to fill, and only time will tell if he can live up to the Saban legacy.
