The End for a Legend

I was supposed to be posting about our projections for the early 12 teams to make the college football playoffs for next year but that was thrown off by news that I did not have on my bingo card for today. At 72 years of age, legendary head coach Nick Saban is retiring.

The term legend doesn’t do Saban justice, I’m not sure even GOAT does. In 28 seasons as a college head coach Saban never had a losing record. Ever. Closest was two .500 season at Michigan State in 1996 and 1998. He truly is the greatest college coach of all time and that’s truly saying something against the likes of the Bear, Joe Pa and Woody and Bo. He turned a down trodden Alabama football program into the blueprint for every other college football team. Schools tried to emulate his success. Kirby Smart has come closest so far at Georgia. Alabama’s football prowess may not be matched from the Saban era. There hasn’t been a season since 2009 that Alabama hasn’t been in the conversation for a national title.

Beyond his own teams on the field, his coaching disciples are unmatched. The aforementioned Smart, Jimbo Fisher, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Will Muschamp, Billy Napier and a host more come from the Saban tree. Dan Lanning at Oregon spent a year learning under Saban before following Smart to Georgia. It’s a who’s who list of coaches. Saban’s legacy will continue on for a long while.

So where does this leave Alabama? They were third in Vegas for the national title next season at 6-1 and that fell to 8-1 with the news of his retirement. The usual suspects will come up (Lanning, Kiffin, Sarkisian, Smart) but who wants to have to follow a legend? As a Florida fan we know that unenviable task when Ron Zook took over for Steve Spurrier. I can’t see the names on the list above leaving their current situations to move to Alabama.

The next question is what happens to the current roster? How many of those current players and new recruits especially signed up to play for Saban and he is no longer there. The portal after spring will be very interesting.

With so many new questions for one of the sports heaviest of heavyweights there is one that is easy to answer. Saban will go down as the greatest in his profession. Those that rooted for him will hurt for a while. Those who rooted against him are elevated. But no matter which side you fall on, you have to respect and admire him. He was brilliant, he was egotistical and backed it up, he seemed genuine, whether you liked what he had to say or not. At the end of the day he was down right awesome. What a way to end this crazy year with this crazy news. Good luck Coach Saban and enjoy your retirement!