Nick Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time, having won six national championships with Alabama and one while at LSU.
Saban, who finished his career with 292 wins, doesn’t seem to have a long list of regrets during his career. He left coaching on his own terms last year after an incredibly successful stint with the Crimson Tide.
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ESPN analyst Nick Saban before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on January 9, 2025. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
He admitted in a recent interview, however, that there was at least one thing he wished he could get back: going from LSU to coaching the Miami Dolphins. Saban left the Tigers after winning a national championship to coach the Dolphins for two seasons. He later claimed he wouldn’t take the job at Alabama, but ultimately did it anyway.
He said on “The Pivot” that leaving LSU for the NFL was his “biggest mistake.”
“I think sometimes you have to get to know yourself,” he told LSU alumnus Ryan Clark, former Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and former NFL running back Fred Taylor. “And you might think things… When I left LSU, that was probably ‘professionally’ the biggest mistake I ever made,” he admitted.
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Nick Saban is introduced as the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins at the Dolphins practice facility in Davie, Florida on January 4, 2005. (Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports)
“Not because we didn’t have success at Miami. I enjoyed coaching at Miami. I found through that experience that I enjoy coaching colleges better because you can develop players personally, academically, athletically and all that a little bit more than professional ball, although I loved the coaching status in professional football and the kind of guys you coach, and you coach in the best league against the best players,. I loved it all.
Saban added that his agent, Jimmy Sexton, talked to him about leaving LSU. Saban said Sexton asked the question: “Do you want to be Bear Bryant or Vince Lombardi in terms of legacy?” Saban said he responded that he wanted to be more like Bryant, but still chose to go the NFL route.
Head coach Nick Saban smiles as Chad Lavalais, number 93, and Stephen Peterman, number 72, kiss the ADT national championship trophy after winning the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl, defeating Oklahoma 21-14, at New -Orléans January 4, 2004. (Douglas Collier-USA TODAY NETWORK)
Saban will be best remembered for his time at Alabama, but his time in the NFL might be the one blemish on his resume that any football fan could point to.
