Why Nick Saban is the GOAT

On the rare occasions over the last 17 autumns when a school managed to beat Alabama, while that school’s fans were still celebrating, Alabama fans pull up a meme adapted from the long-forgotten “Street Fighter” movie. Over a pic of Nick Saban in a press conference shrugging a “what are you gonna do?” shrug run the words:

“When you beat Bama, you rush the field. You tear down goal posts. You jump to #1 in the polls. You celebrate. You should. The day you beat Bama is a momentous occasion. It’s a cause for celebration. It’s a storied moment that will go down in the history of your program.

“But understand, when Bama beats you … it’s just Saturday. Roll Tide.”

That’s the legacy of Nick Saban, the college football coaching GOAT. This really ought to be the shortest article you’ll ever read — “Nick Saban is the GOAT” is so obvious that, for once, you really can just read the headline and get the point of the story. But just to drive the point home, like an early-2010s Alabama defense crushing some poor hapless quarterback into the Bryant-Denny turf, let’s run through Saban’s GOAT credentials.

(Yahoo Sports illustration)

Start with the numbers: Saban has 297 on-field wins over the course of his career at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. That ranks him fifth all-time behind Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Bear Bryant and Pop Warner.

But Saban didn’t just pile up wins over a long career; he won the last game of the season a whole lot, too. His seven national championships rank No. 1 all-time in college football history, and his six at Alabama match Bryant’s total. But Bryant won half his titles before integration, and Warner won all of his while players were still wearing leather helmets. Paterno and Bowden coached during the era of college football’s explosive growth, but neither of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-nick-saban-is-the-goat-030406531.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-01-11 03:04:06

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.