Nick Saban is one of college football’s most accomplished head coaches. The former Alabama head coach won seven national championships and nine SEC titles, among numerous other achievements. He is an icon on and off the field.
While almost all his achievements were recorded while with the Alabama Crimson Tide program, his national championship tally started with the LSU Tigers.
Rece Davis Reflects on Nick Saban’s Time With LSU
Saban won his first national championship with the Tigers in 2003, but his time with the program lasted only five seasons before he left for the NFL.
While Saban’s exit was abrupt, leaving many LSU fans upset, ESPN College GameDay analyst Rece Davis recently sent praise to the former coach for building the program the way he did.
Rece Davis on Nick Saban and LSU:
“He fixed this place. LSU was never consistent. Could never sustain.
For 50 years, it was a coaching graveyard, and he fixed it.”
(via @Jack_Schemmel27 and @WBRZ)pic.twitter.com/dIAjrfhPZa
— Sidelines – Bama (@SSN_Alabama) November 9, 2024
“We just went into the LSU football building to tape the film room,” Davis said. “It’s one of the few segments other than the features that we shoot in advance and don’t do live. As we were walking into the football building, he said, ‘I designed this, and I’ve never been in it.’ And so we walked in, and I think he was going to see BK, he was gonna get a tour of the building, and I know they’ve remodeled and added on some things since then, but the building was his brainchild.”
“You know the thing is, and I hope I don’t get things thrown at me, of the multitude of things that make him the greatest coach in the history of college football, I mean, the championships are obviously on the top, and I don’t mean this disparagingly at all, he fixed this place, I mean he grew up in the South, LSU, never consistent, could never sustain.”
“For 50 years, it was a coaching graveyard, and he fixed it. For me, that’s right there with the championship is the fact that he built a foundation that has been sustainable for other coaches. Now, that’s not to say that Les, Ed, and now BK are very capable. They deserve the credit for what they accomplished.”
“I’m not trying to give all the credit to Nick, but for more than half a century, they really couldn’t do it consistently with that. I think there will be a show them, and he has fond memories of his time as head coach.”
Why Did Saban Leave LSU?
Saban started coaching at LSU in 2000 and ended his five-season tenure in 2004 when he became the next Miami Dolphins head coach.
While Saban didn’t spend 17 years at LSU like he did at Alabama, his run with the program was successful from the get-go. The former Tigers coach is among the top five winningest coaches at LSU with 48 wins, only trailing Ed Orgeron (51), Bernie Moore (83), Les Miles (114), and Charles McClendon (137).
During an interview in 2019, Saban made an honest admission about his decision to leave LSU and college football and said:
“And I know a lot of LSU fans think I left for whatever reasons, but I left because I wanted to be a pro coach, or thought I wanted to be a pro coach.
“We loved LSU. We worked hard to build the program. If there was one thing professionally that I would do over again, it would’ve been not to leave LSU.”
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