ESPN analysts debate Nick Saban vs Kirby Smart as CFB's top coach, if a 3-peat changes things

As college football season approaches, ESPN’s college football minds are wondering whether it’s Nick Saban, arguably the greatest coach in college football history, or Kirby Smart, who’s led Georgia to back-to-back national titles, that should be considered the top coach in all the sport.

Everybody has their opinions, and Harry Douglas and Heather Dinich gave theirs on First Take on Thursday. First, Douglas is going with the more recent victor, choosing Smart as the top dog.

“Right now, it’s the guy who’s won back to back national championships,” explained Douglas. “I also have to throw in, y’all remember in 2017, when Kirby Smart and company had Alabama on the brink, before Nick Saban had to make a quarterback change, and Tua Tagovailoa threw that touchdown pass in overtime. … That was an opportunity that you know, Kirby could’ve beat you know, Nick Saban at that moment. But I look at some of the things last year. You look at the semifinal game against Ohio State. Calling the timeout before the fake punt. Things like that stand out to me. Being able to beat Bama after you lost to them in the SEC Championship Game the year before last. And then last year, trying to see if you can repeat, making sure all of your guys are engaged.

“I think Kirby Smart has a bigger challenge in 2023, because you know guys walk around, 17, 18, 19-years old, feeling themselves because they’ve won a little bit, because they’ve won back-to-back national championships. but I think right there’s only one team in my mind that can impede them from doing so again, and that’s the Ohio State Buckeyes.”

Douglas doesn’t even believe Saban is the biggest threat to Georgia’s chances at three titles in a row, which says all you need to know. As for Dinich, it’s all about Saban, who she believes is the greatest coach in the history of the sport, bar none.

“Nick Saban, he’s the GOAT. Nick Saban is the GOAT,” Dinich said. “If Kirby Smart wins three straight national titles in a row, after you pick me up the floor, we can re-continue this conversation. Because Nick Saban has won six national titles at Alabama. Six! Including three since 2015. You know what they tell recruits when they walk through there? You come on and you play for us, and every recruit who’s gone through here has won a national title. I mean, that is phenomenal.

“So yes, Georgia is the king of college football right now. Kirby Smart has done a remarkable job. But to me, when you ask who the best coach is in college football, it’s about longevity. Nick Saban has that in his back pocket. Kirby Smart’s not there yet. That doesn’t mean he can’t get it, but right now he doesn’t have it.”

Heather Dinich on Nick Saban, new coordinators: Would be Saban’s ‘most magnificent’ job ‘if he can get them back to the CFP’

Nevertheless, Alabama has plenty of questions marks entering 2023, including two new coordinators in Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele leading their offense and defense. That’s going to be a challenge for Saban as he looks to bring the Crimson Tide back to the top of the mountain.

“I think this season is going to go a long way to truly answering this question, because yes, Nick Saban has replaced coordinators before, but never in Nick Saban’s career at Alabama has he had to replace both coordinators and a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, all while trying to reassert his program as not only the bets in the SEC West, but as one of the best in the country,” added Dinich. “That is an unprecedented challenge, even for him.

“So I just wanted to point out, that while he has done some of this stuff before, this might be his most magnificent college coaching job if he can get them back to the CFP.”

That would certainly be quite an accomplishment for Nick Saban, if he’s able to do so, and it would definitely re-assert Alabama as the top program in all of the nation. That business will be settled on the field though, and we can’t wait to get the season going so we can find out.