Nick Saban has officially announced his retirement. Saban was the Head Coach for the University of Alabama for 17 years. In his coaching career, he has 274 wins and 67 losses, within a 28 year span. Along with that, he also earned seven National Titles and ten SEC titles. Junior Keeley Skiljan had some things to say about Saban.
“Nick Saban was a football icon, if not a national icon. He touched so many football lovers’ lives and gave it his all throughout the years,” Skiljan said.
Saban started out his career at the University of Toledo in 1990. He started out with a bang by leading his team to a 9-2 record, and ending the season as Co-Champions of the Mid-American Conference. He then moved onto Michigan State from 1995-1999. He did not accomplish much in the time he was there, so he resigned and became the head coach at LSU from 2000-2004. Saban definitely made a difference at LSU. He walked away with five appearances in Bowl Games, a Peach Bowl win, and in the last year he was at LSU, he earned his first National Title. He came off of that season with a 13-1 record.
“Nick Saban was an outstanding coach, and he showed what a winning program was even before he went to Alabama,” Junior Megan Lawson said.
In 2007, Saban took over the head coaching job for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Little did everyone know, he was going to make history. He had a quiet first year in Bama, finishing the season 7-6.
“Nick Saban was an outstanding coach and even though his first year at Alabama did not go as planned he still managed to win a National Championship in 2009 which was awesome,” Junior Megan Lawson said.
2011 was yet another memorable year for the Roll Tide. Saban led his team to another National Championship game against LSU. LSU came into the game being the number one ranked team, and also undefeated. Alabama was the second ranked team with only one loss. However, this definitely did not affect Bamas play. This game was unreal to see in a National Championship because not only did Alabama take home the title, but they made sure that everyone knew who won.Walking away with the score of 21-0, Saban’s team did not let LSU score even a point. Saban also earned himself another Bobby Bowden National Coach of the Year Award. Then 2012 came and Bama was still on a roll. They plowed through teams and found themselves in the SEC Championship game again and won it. The National Championship game came and Saban faced off against Notre Dame. Saban won his third title for Alabama, his second in a row. This game was also a huge blow out with a score of 42-14. Saban won the Bobby Bowden National Coach of the Year award for the third time.
“Two National Titles in a row is unreal and it shows that he was the greatest of all time,” junior Taylor Holdmeier said.
In 2014, Saban led his team to an SEC Championship and won. He unfortunately did not make it to the National Championship. The following year, in 2015, was yet another SEC Championship appearance and victory. That made them the first team ever in history to have won back to back SEC Championships. Not long after that, was the National Championship in which number two Alabama and number one Clemson faced off. The game went back and forth the whole time but Bama pulled through in the end to win the game with a close score of 45-40. This added another National Title to Saban’s name, making it his fourth in seven years.
“He showed so many people that Albama could not have a bad season. He was extremely consistent and there was no losing for his team,” junior Taylor Holdmeier said.
2016 was a record breaking year. Saban had won the SEC Championship for the third year in a row and had an undefeated regular season record. They did fall short in the National Championship game against Clemson who had lost to the Tide just the year before. In 2017 Saban’s team was out for blood. They went into every game with an iron fist, plowing through teams. Bama found themselves in the National Championship with Georgia. It was a very close game but the Tide survived and took another National Championship. This was the fifth one under Saban’s name for the past eleven years. After this outstanding accomplishment he was now awarded National Coach of the Year for the seventh time.
“Seven National Coach of the Year Awards is so crazy and he is insane,” junior Keeley Skiljan said.
In 2020, Nick Saban found himself coaching his last National Title ever against Ohio State. His team killed them with a 52-24 ending score. Saban now added his seventh and final National Title to his name. One from LSU and six from Alabama. He will forever be remembered in the game of football, not just by Alabama fans but everyone. He touched many lives and inspired many young athletes.
