Nick Saban wasn’t just the greatest head coach in the history of college football; he pulled away from the field.
We just kept adding to the list… and adding … and now it appears to be complete.
For years, we’ve been trying to put Nick Saban’s success into perspective, from comparing his numbers with the best coaches the sport has ever known, to charting statistics one can’t find anywhere else.
There’s no longer any doubt that Saban stands alone among his peers, especially in terms of accomplishments. His teams kept playing for national championships, challenging for recruiting titles, and dominating the NFL draft in unparalleled fashion.
For his career, Saban averaging a national championship every 4.0 season he’s been a head coach (Toledo and Michigan State included). The next best averages in history are Frank Leahy and Knute Rockne tied at one every 4.3 seasons, and John McKay at 5.3.
• Wins: He didn’t quite catch catch Joe Paterno with 409, but he’s sixth at the Division I level, and finished the 2023 season with 297.
Moreover, he’s the only coach during the modern era of college football to average 10-plus wins a season (although Kirby Smart is on pace to do the same).
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• Recruiting: There’s no one near Saban in terms of recruiting rankings, which are still a relatively new phenomenon. Still, it might be a long, long time before anyone else can claim to win seven straight recruiting titles, or 12 out of 16.
• Dynasty: With six titles between 2009 and 2020, and playing for more, the stretch is unparalleled in college football history.
• All-Americans: In 2017, Saban blew past Paterno for the most consensus All-Americans in history, and he’s only been adding to it since.
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• First-round draft picks: With six in 2021, which tied the record for most in a single NFL draft, Alabama has had 49 first-round selections under Saban, with the 2024 NFL Draft to go. overall. That didn’t include players he recruited and helped develop at Michigan State and LSU who went on to be first-round picks more than a year after the coach moved on. Next on the all-time list are Paterno (33) and Bobby Bowden (32).
• Players in the NFL: Last season, 2022, Alabama broke the record for most former players to appear in games throughout a single season with 70. It topped it this year, when quarterback AJ McCarron entered a game for the Cincinnati Bengals. For years, the Crimson Tide has had the most active player on NFL roster, a trend that likely won’t change for quite some time.
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• NFL contracts: Saban’s drafted players from Alabama alone have been paid over $2 billion over the last 16 NFL seasons.
• Wins against teams ranked No. 1: Saban has had the record for most wins against No. 1 teams for nearly a decade. Saban has the most in history with nine, the most recent being against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. He just missed No. 10 when Alabama lost to Michigan in the Rose Bowl. No one else in college football history has more than four. That statistic is ever more remarkable when you factor in all the weeks Alabama has been ranked No. 1. Speaking of which …
