Nick Saban is widely regarded as the greatest college football coach ever. Nearly 300 wins in 28 seasons and seven national titles make it a tough argument to fight. Hard to believe, though, that this legendary coach never really pictured himself on the sidelines when he was younger. Still, he says he’ll never forget the very first lesson he was taught about the job.
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Recently, Saban looked back on that first lesson. At the time, he was still a player, a quarterback specifically, with not a single thought in his head about becoming a coach one day.
In his sophomore year, at the end of the season, 15-year-old Saban was playing William Mason High School, and he remembers, that the team had to walk through a graveyard to walk to the playground. And that specific game was especially important because it held their playoffs hope.
Saban had to step up and lead his team to victory because their season was on the line. There was plenty of pressure on his shoulders, too, as he revealed that he was the one calling the plays.
“We got behind 18-0, and we came back in the second half and we had it 18-12. We had the ball to go with 2 minutes, and I called the plays. I was 15 years old. We go down, and it’s 4th and 12 at the 25-yard line, and he calls our last timeout. I was relieved,” Saban remembered.
No wonder he was relieved. At that age, that’s a lot of responsibility to carry, and he probably didn’t want to be the one to mismanage the comeback. So he went over to his coach.
“[Coach] said, ‘Well, you got the fastest guy in the state playing left halfback, and a three-time all-state guy playing split end. I don’t care what play you call. One of the two of them need to get the ball,’” Saban continued.
That’s when the future Alabama Crimson Tide coach realized what play he had to call. He went with 26 cross-yard pass, a play-action where he faked it to the fastest player on his team and then threw it to the split end for a touchdown. They ended up winning the game 19-18, with Saban stepping up as the hero.
After the game, Saban’s coach came back to him and hammered home the lesson: “When you’re in a critical situation in a game, don’t think of plays, think of players. So, that was my first coaching lesson.”
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It’s hard to imagine college football without Saban. He and the Crimson Tide dominated the polls for years, consistently competing for National Championships. Specifically, Saban was propped up for his recruiting prowess and getting the most out of said recruits.
Will Saban ever return to coaching?
It’s been hard to adjust to the new college football landscape without Saban. Sure, he’s still on the GameDay show Saturday mornings, but we miss seeing him on the sidelines during big primetime matchups. It makes you wonder, will he ever return to coaching?
After all, Bill Belichick, who is the same age as Saban, just accepted his job at North Carolina. Still, it doesn’t sound like the GOAT college coach has any plans to make a comeback.
“There is no opportunity that I know of right now that would entice me to go back to coaching. I enjoy what I’m doing. I did it for 50 years. I loved it. I loved the relationship with the players. I loved the competition. But, you know, it’s another station of life now,” Saban said in an interview with Fox this summer.
It makes sense at the end of the day. Saban doesn’t have anything else to give to the sport. But it would be interesting to see if he ever gets involved as anything more than an advisor to Alabama’s athletic director, which is what he does at the moment.
