If Nick Saban were to ever play the part of a villain, he’d get my vote as The Godfather. Just think about it for a minute. It makes so much sense.
But I digress.
For The Win’s Luke Kerr-Dineen put together a fun rankings column on the 21 best villains in sports, and of course Saban makes an appearance. When you’re the best coach in college football and have dominated your conference for the better half of the last eight years, you’re going to be, well, not very well-liked by some.
A good villain, in many ways, is the kind of thing that makes sports great. Rooting for something is fun, sure, but rooting against something makes for sports’ best stories.
And so, allow us to present our list of the best 21 current sports villains, listed below in no particular order. The people we hate, or at the very lest, the people we love to hate.
Fortunately, Saban comes in last at No. 21 — and it’s mostly just because he wins. A lot.
Like (Bill) Belichick, his villain status is partly due to his success, but also comes down to the way he succeeds. Efficient, unrelenting, brilliant.
Maybe being a member of the dark side isn’t all that bad.
Tyler Waddell is a member of the Saturday Down South news team. He brings over five years of professional journalism experience and is closing in on a Bachelor's in sports management. Follow him on Twitter (@Tyler_Waddell).
