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Nick Saban at Alabama: 10 numbers that define an era marked by greatness
Nick Saban will no longer be the head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. An eventuality we all expected at some point finally arrived on Wednesday. After 17 seasons at Alabama and 28 overall as a collegiate head coach, the greatest of all time is stepping away from the game.
Saban came to Alabama in 2007 and, by Year 3, had the Tide playing for and winning a BCS National Championship. It was a sign of things to come as Alabama would go on to dominate the sport for the next two decades. We haven’t seen a dynasty like the one Saban created in Tuscaloosa and we might not see one again.
Programs were reoriented to beat one man. The sport changed to stop one team. His decision to leave coaching now will no doubt change things again.
To celebrate the legend, here are 10 numbers that defined an era of absolute greatness.
(Editor’s note: The numbers presented in the subheadings will be Alabama-only tallies from Saban’s career.)
Wins: 206
Nick Saban holds a career record of 297-71-1. He went 9-2 at Toledo in 1990. He went 34-24 at Michigan State from 1995-99. He went 48-16 at LSU from 2000-04, winning a national title in the process.
Then he went to Tuscaloosa and lost 29 times in 235 career games.
Saban holds a 0.877 win percentage as the Crimson Tide’s head coach — the greatest of anyone to coach at Alabama. Bear Bryant has 26 more wins, though Saban will have spent eight fewer years with the program.
His career win total of 297 puts him fifth all-time on the coaching leaderboard, trailing only Pop Warner, the aforementioned Bryant, Bobby Bowden, and Joe Paterno.
Consecutive 10-win seasons: 16
Since going 7-6 in his first season, Alabama has won double-digit games every single season.
The streak — 16 years — is the longest by any program in the AP Poll era (1936). Consider Alabama has done that in the SEC, which has been the toughest conference in football throughout almost the entirety of Saban’s tenure there. Consider, also, that Alabama has managed at least 10 wins for 16 straight years against a schedule that has featured teams ranked in the AP Poll (at the time of the meeting) 48.2% of the time — 107 ranked foes in 222 games.
Of all Saban’s accomplishments, this might be the toughest for a peer to replicate.
SEC championship appearances: 10
Let’s just take a moment and think about the kinds of teams it took to keep Alabama out of the SEC’s title game. There was 2007 LSU, which won the national championship. There was 2010 Auburn, which won the national championship behind one of the greatest single seasons by an individual ever. There was 2011 LSU, which played for a national championship. There was 2013 Auburn, which played for a national championship. There was 2017 Auburn. And then there was 2019 LSU, which was one of the greatest teams ever (and won a national championship).
That’s what it took to keep Saban out of the conference title game. The Tide played for the title in back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009, then were shut out of it for two seasons, then never went consecutive years without making the title game under Saban again.
And from 2012-23, Alabam was unbeaten when it made the SEC title game. Eight consecutive victories. Saban won nine of his 10 appearances overall.
National championship appearances: 9
Of course a team will want to win the national championship when it gets to the game, but coaches are hired and fired based on their ability to get to the game. Programs want an opportunity to play for a national title. Hiring Saban meant Alabama had the best likelihood of any team to do so at the start of any given season.
Alabama won the BCS National Championship with a 37-21 victory over Texas in 2009 to officially introduce the sport to the Saban Era of Dominance. The Tide won another title in 2011. Then they won another title in 2012. Then they won another title in 2015.
Related: How Alabama pulled off the great heist of Nick Saban
When the College Football Playoff was instituted, Alabama flexed its muscles. From 2015-18, Alabama appeared in four consecutive title games. It then went to back-to-back title games in 2020 and 2021.
The loss to Michigan in the Rose Bowl this season meant Alabama would fail to make the title game in three consecutive seasons, marking the longest “drought” for Saban during the CFP era.
Weeks at AP No. 1: 109
According to ESPN’s stats and info, Alabama has spent more weeks in the No. 1 spot of the AP poll under Saban than any other program has ever.
Consensus All-Americans: 41
Under Saban, all manner of players have been heralded as consensus All-Americans. Hard-hitting linebackers like Reuben Foster. Heisman-winning running backs like Mark Ingram. Dual-threat quarterbacks and dropback passers. Linemen on both sides.
The mark of a great coach is that he takes good players and makes them excellent. Saban took great players and made them legends.
First-round NFL Draft picks: 44
Alabama has had a player selected in the first round of the NFL Draft in each of the last 15 drafts. There is no doubt that streak will extend to 16 with the 2024 NFL Draft.
His 44 first-rounders are a record for any coach at one school. His 49 overall first-round draft picks are the most for a coach in NCAA history.
Bowl victories: 16
Saban’s 31 career bowl appearances rank third all-time behind Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. His 19 career bowl victories also rank third all-time.
He is 16-7 in bowl games at Alabama. Just his Alabama wins would also rank third all-time in NCAA history.
Former assistants to get HC jobs: 14
Kirby Smart is the headliner, but Saban’s coaching tree is extensive and quite impressive. Just off his Alabama staff, assistants to land head coaching jobs include Jeremy Pruitt, Jim McElwain, Lane Kiffin, Major Applewhite, Mario Cristobal, Mike Locksley, Billy Napier, Geoff Collins, Curt Cignetti, Kevin Steele, Mel Tucker, Butch Jones, and Steve Sarkisian. And that’s to say nothing of former guys who weren’t on the 10-man assistant staff like Dan Lanning, who has been bandied about as a potential successor.
Losing seasons: 0
None.
Not at Toledo. Not at Michigan State. Not at LSU. And certainly not at Alabama. Saban’s MSU teams in 1996 and 1998 went 6-6. His first Alabama team went 7-6 with a bowl victory. At Alabama, he’s lost more than three games in a season only once.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.