Nick Saban is retiring.
The longtime Alabama coach announced his retirement on Wednesday.
Thank You, Coach.
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) January 11, 2024
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"The University of Alabama has been a very special place to Terry and me," Saban said. "We have enjoyed every minute of our 17 years being the head coach at Alabama as well as becoming a part of the Tuscaloosa community. It is not just about how many games we won and lost, but it's about the legacy and how we went about it. We always tried to do it the right way. The goal was always to help players create more value for their future, be the best player they could be and be more successful in life because they were part of the program. Hopefully, we have done that, and we will always consider Alabama our home."
Arguably the greatest coach in college football history, Saban leaves Alabama after a 17-year run in which he led the Crimson Tide to six national championships and nine SEC championships.
The last of those national championships came in the 2020 season, when the Crimson Tide defeated Ohio State 52-24 in the national championship game. Saban went 1-1 against the Buckeyes as Alabama’s coach, suffering a 42-35 loss to Ohio State in the first College Football Playoff semifinals in the 2014 season, when the Buckeyes went to win the national championship.
The Crimson Tide won at least 10 games in all of Saban’s last 16 years at the helm; he finishes his 17 years in Tuscaloosa with a 201-29 record, ending with a CFP semifinal loss to Michigan in this past season’s Rose Bowl.
Saban won a total of seven national championships as a head coach, also leading LSU to the national title in 2003. In between his tenures at LSU and Alabama, Saban spent two years in the NFL coaching the Miami Dolphins.
A former Kent State defensive back, Saban spent two years at Ohio State coaching defensive backs in 1980 and 1981. He got his start as a head coach at Toledo in 1990, then became the head coach at Michigan State from 1995-99 after four years as the Cleveland Browns’ defensive coordinator.
His departure opens up one of the most coveted head coaching jobs in college football.
