Greg Sankey opens up on Nick Saban's impact on college football

The football landscape was shocked on Wednesday as Alabama head coach Nick Saban decided to step away from the game and retire, closing the book on a college coaching career that many rank No. 1 across the history of the sport.

The legacy Saban leaves on the game is undeniable, setting a new gold standard in college football regarding program building, player development, and championship success. But following his retirement, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also spoke on the overall impact Saban had on the sport on SEC Network.

“I would offer a few things,” Sankey began. “One, he set a standard of excellence and that’s shown in championship moments, championship achievements, but that was never the focus he communicated.”

When it comes to championships and winning, there isn’t another college football coach that quite stacks up with Saban. Whose hoisted seven national championships in his career, 11 SEC titles, and boasts an impressive 292-72-1 record as a college football head coach, including a 201-29 record during his 17-year tenure with Alabama.

But his impact on other coaches was also paramount, building a coaching tree with branches that have spread further than many could’ve imagined with notable current head coaches like Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Lane Kiffin, and so many more cutting their teeth under Saban’s tutelage.

“I’ll go back to his impact on the coaching community. Those who have been provided opportunities to some now lead programs, some who needed that second chance and I’ve had the opportunity to talk with some of them, to describe and hear them describe what the opportunity that Nick provided as a member of his football staff, and learning under him has meant to them,” Sankey explained.

Saban has not only changed the lives of many coaches, but players as well, seemingly mastering player development, mentorship, and equipping collegiate athletes with the tools to be successful at the professional level. Saban has produced more first-round draft selections (44) than losses in his collegiate coaching career (29), with his fingerprints all over not just college football, but the NFL game as well.

“You watch the legacy and tributes of players,” Sankey said. “I remember being at the University of Alabama speaking to a class years ago and encountering an NFL player during the season, asking him why he was there and he used the phrase, ‘This is home.’ And I think that’s an indication of what he’s built and what he’s meant on an individual basis, on a group basis with coaches and on a game basis and his impact on college football.”

Saban’s impact on football as a whole is hard to quantify so soon after his seemingly random retirement. But there’s no doubt that the impact was a large one, and that he’ll surely be missed on the sidelines, at press conferences, and beyond moving forward.