Alabama head coach Nick Saban to retire after 17 years with Tide

The end of the unprecedented era has arrived.

Nick Saban, head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, is retiring after 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, Ala., according to ESPN senior writer Chris Low. Saban informed the team today.

Saban, 72, has compiled a 297-71-1 record as a college head coach. He has claimed seven national championships – six at Alabama – 11 conference championships and 23 of his teams will have played in bowl games, including a trip to the BCS National Championship Game following the 2003, 2009, 2011 and 2012 seasons and the College Football Playoff semifinals in seven of the last nine seasons, including six of the last eight CFP National Championship Games.

Saban is the only coach to win four BCS national titles, the only coach to win back-to-back BCS national championships and the only coach to win three CFP national championships. He has won seven titles in his last 17 years of coaching, most recently capturing the CFP national title after the 2020 season. Saban is one of three college coaches in the poll era (since 1936) to win three national championships in four years (2009, 2011-12). His title in 2020 moved him past Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most national championships in the poll era with seven. 

Other career highlights for Saban include:

– In 2009, Saban produced Alabama’s first national championship in 17 years by guiding the Crimson Tide to a 14-0 season with dominant wins over Florida in the SEC championship and Texas in the Citi BCS National Championship Game. He then followed that up with his second BCS championship in three years with a 21-0 shutout of LSU following the 2011 season at the Allstate BCS National Championship Game. Saban made it back-to-back BCS national championships in 2012 with a 42-14 win over Notre Dame in the Discover BCS National Championship Game. 

He took down Clemson, 45-40, to capture title No. 5 following the 2015 season in the CFP National Championship Game and took home his sixth national championship – and fifth at Alabama – in 2017 with a 26-23 overtime win over Georgia in the 2018 CFP National Championship Game. Saban’s most recent title came in dominating fashion as the Crimson Tide defeated Ohio State, 52-24, in the 2021 CFP National Championship Game in Miami Gardens, Fla. 

– In addition to the on-field success, the 2011 team was also recognized with the Disney Spirit Award, which was presented to snapper Carson Tinker, for the team’s response to the community following the tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011. The Tide also had extensive success in the classroom that year with 38 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections, a league record, and produced an Academic All-American in Barrett Jones. 

– A five-season run at LSU (2000-04) produced a record of 48-16 (.750), one national championship (2003), two Southeastern Conference championships and three SEC West Division championships. The Tigers constructed a 28-12 (.700) record against SEC opponents under Saban’s guidance. He was named the 2003 National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and earned both the Paul W. “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year Award and the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award by the Football Writers Association of America. 

– Saban served as head coach at Michigan State from 1995-99, his second stint at the East Lansing school as he also spent 1983-87 as the Spartans’ defensive coordinator/secondary coach. Saban led MSU to a 34-24-1 (.585) record as head coach, including four postseason appearances. In 1999, Saban led his final Spartans team to a No. 7 national ranking as MSU finished in a tie for second in the Big Ten. The Spartans defeated Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State in the same year for the first time since 1965 and recorded six wins at home for the first time since the 1912 season. 

– Saban’s first head coaching position came at the University of Toledo in 1990, as he guided the Rockets to a record of 9-2 that year, finishing as co-champions of the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets ranked among the NCAA leaders in both total defense (12th at 284.8 yards) and scoring defense (16th at 16.2 points) and missed posting an undefeated record by a mere five points. 

– A native of Fairmont, W.Va., Saban is a 1973 graduate of Kent State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business. He earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Kent State in 1975. Born October 31, 1951, Saban and his wife, the former Terry Constable, have two children, Nicholas and Kristen. They have one granddaughter, Amélie, and one grandson, James. 

– At Michigan State, the Sabans started the Nick’s Kids Foundation, which they have continued in Tuscaloosa, a vibrant example of their continuing concern for disadvantaged children. Since Nick and Terry arrived in Tuscaloosa, over $12 million has been distributed to students, teachers and children’s causes at over 150 charities through the Nick’s Kids Foundation. 

– Personally, Nick and Terry have given over $1 million to their First Generation Scholarship at The University of Alabama. The Sabans also contributed $1 million to The Crimson Standard, Alabama’s 10-year, $600 million capital campaign. Most recently, the Sabans announced plans for The Saban Center in Tuscaloosa, a learning and discovery center on the Black Warrior River that brings together the Children’s Hands-On Museum and the Tuscaloosa Children’s Theater. The Sabans made a personal gift of $1 million to the project and the Nick’s Kids Foundation contributed another $2 million.

*** This story will be updated.

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