Nick Saban is college football’s all-time leader in national championships with seven, giving him a strong trump card as the greatest college football coach of all time. Six of them came during his legendary 17-year run as Alabama’s coach, which came to an end Tuesday when he announced his retirement.
From his first coaching stint at Toledo in 1990 through the end of the 2023 season, Saban witnessed seismic change in the sport. Part of what made him great was his ability to adapt. It was a skill he repeatedly put on display at Alabama while cycling through coordinators but always managing to keep the Crimson Tide at or near the top of college football.
Saban’s embrace of the sport’s changing offensive norms after his first three national titles enabled him to win three more. Alabama’s evolution from a defensive-oriented program into one also capable of winning high-scoring battles also makes comparing his teams a challenge. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder when it comes to comparing squads like the 2020 team with its offensive brilliance to the 2011 team’s defensive dominance.
Here is our best shot at ranking the top squads of Saban’s collegiate coaching career.
8. LSU, 2003 (13-1)
Saban arrived at LSU in 2000, inheriting a program coming off a 3-8 season. In his fourth year, the Tigers finished 13-1 with a 21-14 victory over Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship. By the standards of his later title teams at Alabama, this team wasn’t supremely dominant — an Oct. 11 home loss to unranked Florida is bizarre in hindsight — but the defense had some serious bite. No one scored more than 24 points against LSU in 2003, which foreshadowed the formula Saban’s early teams at Alabama used to reach the top of college football.
7. Alabama, 2016 (14-1)
Alabama’s 2016 team started 14-0 with an average victory margin of 27.9 points. The beatings were relentless: 52-6 over No. 20 USC to open the year; 49-10 over No. 9 Tennessee; 33-14 over No. 6 Texas A&M; 54-16 over No. 15 Florida in the SEC Championship Game. The Crimson Tide owned the top spot in the rankings all season long and seemed like a team of inevitable destiny. But the program’s bid for back-to-back titles was derailed in the CFP National Championship when Clemson broke through with a dramatic 35-31 victory. There is no question this team — led by stars such as QB Jalen Hurts, LB Reuben Foster and DB Minkah…
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