Nick Saban gives incredible answer when asked about his favorite win at Alabama

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has won a lot of games in his career. He also has quite a few championships. Specifically, in 15 seasons at Alabama Saban has 179 wins and six national championships. When asked about which specific win was his favorite at Alabama, Saban struggled to come up with just one answer.

“I can’t call that one, I really can’t,” Saban said when asked what his favorite win at Alabama is. “There’s been so many great players, so many really good coaches, so many people who have contributed to the success of the program here. The University commitment, the athletic directors, everybody has been so supportive of helping the program.”

Eventually, Saban talked about the first championship that he was able to win at Alabama. That came in 2009, when Alabama won the BCS Championship and finished the season 14-0.

“But I think always the first time,” Saban said. “The first team that won the championship in the third year that we were here. The second year, went to the SEC Championship game, we were undefeated, Florida beat us, they won the national championship. Then the next year we played them again, we beat them and then we beat Texas. That group of guys, it’s not my favorite win or anything like that. They’re all great.”

Saban: That first championship team came to Alabama to prove something

In Saban’s early years as Alabama’s head coach, he didn’t have the longstanding success that he currently has. When recruiting the players that eventually made up that 2009 championship team, Alabama was 7-6. It wasn’t until the next couple of seasons that Alabama started consistently competing for national championships.

“But that group of guys and that team, I probably have a little bit more sort of heartfelt love for because all those guys came here when we weren’t any good. They came here because this was their destination,” Saban said of his first championship winning team at Alabama. “They wanted to come here and prove something and do something special. When Julio Jones came here we were 7-6. When Dont’a Hightower came here we were 7-6. We were recruiting them after our first year and they didn’t know whether we were going to be any good or not. So they really had something to prove.

“That was a lot of fun to see that group have such a great impact. And that recruiting class, if you want to go back and look at that recruiting class and see where all those guys ended up, that first recruiting class. I just remember the equipment guy walking out on the field when those guys came to the first practice and he looked at me and he said, ‘I ain’t seen a bunch like that around here for a while.'”

Saban’s first championship win at Alabama was certainly only the beginning. Alabama won three out of four national championships from 2009 to 2012. And since the introduction of the College Football Playoff, Alabama has been there consistently. The Crimson Tide made the championship game four consecutive seasons from 2015 to 2018, winning two, and also won last season.

As Alabama continues to battle for a spot in this year’s College Football Playoff, Saban is focused on winning the games ahead of him.

“So anyway, I can’t answer that,” he continued. “They’re all great wins. The next one is obviously the most important. So that’s the one we’re focused on right now.”