Where does Nick Saban rank on all-time list of coaches? Who’s next at Alabama? Our experts react

Well, it finally happened. Alabama coach Nick Saban, who won six national championships in 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide, retired Wednesday.

So what happens next? How will his departure affect the college football landscape?

We asked five members of The Athletic’s college football staff for their thoughts on the Saban era.

Where does Saban rank all time among college coaches?

David Ubben: He’s the best to ever do it. It’s that simple. Sustaining success in college football has never been more difficult and no one has been that elite for this long. Saban was the total package in every way. He was a maniacal recruiter, and it showed in the rankings. He was a master developer, and it showed in Alabama’s endless stream of NFL Draft picks. And he was a master tactician who could evaluate coaching talent and consistently hire great coaches despite nonstop turnover on his staff as a result of his success. And he evolved to stay one step ahead of the sport and stay on the top. He’s leaving after 16 consecutive double-digit-win seasons, seven national titles and 11 finishes in the final AP top five in his last 14 seasons. What he did was impossible. Name a coach. Whatever he did best, Saban did it better. Period.

Ari Wasserman: I’ve been accused of being a prisoner of the moment quite a bit, but is there even a debate that he is the greatest coach to ever do it? Every identifiable statistic supports that claim, whether it is national titles, number of draft picks or excellence through different eras of the sport. The thing that will always stand out to me is how he was able to dominate perhaps the most competitive era of the sport, doing so because he was never the smartest man in the room. He was always willing to adapt and he never stopped learning. He is the model for what excellence looks like in all of coaching.

Seth Emerson: There could be some debate over greatest coach of all time, accounting for the various differences in eras. But, at the risk of recency bias, Saban is the greatest steward of a college football program ever, when you account for everything he did for Alabama: He changed the thinking around the program, getting it to spend whatever it took on facilities. He prioritized recruiting and program culture. He was a master at roster management and hiring coaches, winning national championships with many different coordinators on both sides of the ball. He adapted his offense to the passing era. He adjusted as name, image and likeness and transfer rules changed. And oh, yeah, he was a pretty good tactician. But it was more about what Saban did the other six days of the week, not just Saturdays, and throughout the year, that made him so dominant.

Christopher Kamrani: Is there something above No. 1? No. So Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. is the best there ever was … until there’s a new best there ever was. Our flagrant obsession with comparing eras is and always has been moot. So I’m not going to pretend to know what kind of halftime adjuster Woody Hayes was or how much Bear Bryant loved blitzing on third-and-long. I’m going with what I know, and what I know is you’re the greatest ever to do it when the sport you’re involved with knows it must chase you down to even have a shot. And for a decade, college football as a whole was trying to keep pace with Saban as he cultivated a powerhouse in Tuscaloosa, won six national titles and saw his coaching tree extend to powers in all time zones.

Sam Khan Jr.: He’s my No. 1. To win as consistently for as long as he did and continuously adapt to a game that changed more in the last 20-plus years than it had in the first 130 is a testament to Saban’s coaching acumen. There are the seven national championships. He produced 49 players who became first-round NFL Draft picks, most of any coach in the common draft era. He was a relentless recruiter. When offensive football evolved, Saban adapted his team’s style, from the tempo of offense the Crimson Tide played to the size and types of defensive players he recruited to combat those offenses. He successfully evolved in how he managed his roster. And even as scores of coaches left to take promotions, he was able to consistently fill those voids and keep winning.

Who would you target as the next coach?

Ubben: It has to start with recruiting and relationships and a coach who understands and embraces the new, constantly evolving world of college football. To me, that’s Dan Lanning. He hasn’t accomplished much yet, but his trajectory is as ascendant as anyone in the sport, and Alabama is going to want a coach who can be there for the next 20 years, not the next five. There’s no guarantee that whoever follows Saban will succeed. It’s an unenviable task that I’ve talked with countless coaches about over the years. But no one has the upside and best shot to keep the dynasty rolling like Lanning. If not him, I’d pursue Steve Sarkisian second.

Wasserman: Coaching searches are one of the most enjoyable things about this sport. Dreaming about the future and what can change is the cornerstone of college football fandom. But in this coaching search, no matter who you say, regardless of accomplishment or trajectory, they cannot even begin to fill the shoes of what that man was capable of. The first name that jumps into my head is Kirby Smart because he’s the most comparable person to him in the sport. Georgia, however, is probably a better job now. Nobody else seems to even be worth mentioning, not even young coaches with tremendous upside like Dan Lanning.

Emerson: Having covered Lanning, I can say he seems as good of a choice as any. He’s seen the Saban/Smart blueprint in building an organization. He’s shown the right stuff so far as a head coach. And his personality is enough of a difference that he will be a change of voice that isn’t so radical that it’s counterproductive. Glenn Schumann might be the reverse Smart, the wunderkind defensive coordinator leaving Georgia to come home. But Schumann is still only 33, and this job will attract proven head coaches. Dabo Swinney made sense a few years ago, but unlike Saban, he hasn’t evolved with the times. Sarkisian makes sense, especially if Alabama wants to hurt one of its new conference rivals. Here’s one out-of-left-field name that won’t happen, but I’ll throw out for fun: Mike Tomlin. It doesn’t seem like he’s ready to leave the NFL or the Pittsburgh Steelers. But if ever there was a coach in his prime with the mentality to follow a legend, it’s Tomlin.

Kamrani: Jimbo Fisher. JK. Like my best friend, Ari, I too have been known to be a prisoner of the moment. So my recency bias in talking to and covering the Washington Huskies the last two months has me thinking that maybe the guy to succeed the guy nobody wants to succeed should be a guy who doesn’t have any ties to said guy. Savvy? Does Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne feel compelled to go with someone who is part of the Saban DNA helix? If so, then you throw professional golf money at Kirby Smart. Is Alabama that much of a better job than the place where he’s already won two titles (and happens to be his alma mater)? Therefore, my knee-buckling curveball is Kalen DeBoer, who has won at every single level he’s been. And the pressure in Tuscaloosa is hot and sticky and unforgiving. I get that. But that’s my choice.

Khan: Assuming Smart is content at his alma mater, where he has already won two national championships, and reigning national champ Jim Harbaugh presumably has his eyes set on the NFL, I’d look at Lanning and Sarkisian. Both have proved in a short time that they can recruit at an elite level and successfully build a strong program infrastructure. Both have Alabama ties, Lanning from his time as a graduate assistant in 2015 and Sarkisian from two stints on the offensive staff, including as offensive coordinator of the 2020 national title-winning squad. I don’t think Alabama could go wrong with either. There was a time, years ago, when Dabo Swinney seemed to be a natural candidate for this job because of what he accomplished at Clemson and his Alabama ties (he played and coached there), but he has proved less willing to adapt to the rapid changes in the sport, so targeting him seems risky. Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, who just took the Huskies to a national title game appearance, warrants a call, especially considering his track record of success everywhere he has been. One wild card that I wonder about: Would Alabama consider Lane Kiffin?

What is your lasting memory of the Saban era?

Ubben: It’s his now-infamous complaint turned threat to the rest of the sport. Up-tempo offenses were all the rage. Everyone wanted to go fast to get an edge on defenses that had more talented players.

“Is this what we want football to be?” he asked in October 2012, a month before Texas A&M and Johnny Football beat his Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Saban was heavily criticized for it, but that offseason resolved that the answer to the question was yes. In 2014, he hired Lane Kiffin as offensive coordinator and embraced spread offense and an up-tempo style, going away from an offense with a bruising running game but still leaning on a physical, imposing offensive line. The offense came alive and Alabama became one of the most entertaining teams in the sport. From 2018 to 2022, it never finished below sixth in scoring offense. It was evolution. It was a major departure from the traits that marked his teams at LSU and early in his tenure at Alabama. And it showcased why he was so great. So few coaches can make wholesale changes and still thrive. But Saban did.

Wasserman: Sept. 1, 2018. Alabama had just beaten Louisville 51-14, and ESPN’s Maria Taylor had the courage to ask Saban a question about which quarterback, Jalen Hurts or Tua Tagovailoa, would start. That turned into one of the many famous Nick Saban rants that is still a meme to this day. “I’m not going to, so quit asking!” is something I even say to my wife joking around the house. There have been so many Saban moments, from wins to motivational speaking engagements to leaked videos of him recruiting. As is the case with all of these questions, it feels insulting to have to choose one. He was that great.

Emerson: As the writer who has chronicled Georgia for the last 15 years, which Saban-induced gut-wrenching defeat should I pick? No, not second-and-26. No, not the 2012 or 2018 SEC championship games. The one, to me, that best exhibits Saban’s artistry was in 2015 when he brought in a one-loss Alabama team against unbeaten Georgia, which was feeling good about its chances and doing things “the Georgia way.” And Alabama ran all over Georgia, showing the power brokers in Athens how far their program still had to go. Within a few weeks, Georgia had decided to move on from Mark Richt and targeted Kirby Smart, then Alabama’s defensive coordinator, deciding if it couldn’t beat Saban then it would try to copy him.

Kamrani: This dude staring into the camera during on-field interviews. It’s always made me laugh/made me feel weird, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe he is (was?) so good at recruiting that he knew it would be a way to impress himself onto recruits and their families? You can have all the titles and close games and future NFL stars. My lasting memory of Nick Saban is refusing to look at the person holding the mic flag and instead staring at the person holding the big camera on their shoulder. Congrats to Nick. One-of-one.

Khan: For me, it’s the moments when the camera caught him smiling. We often saw the image of the tough, hard-nosed coach screaming at his assistants on the sideline, but when we saw the other side of Saban, it was endearing. I remember him jumping into AJ McCarron’s arms after Alabama’s win over LSU in 2013. The relief he showed earlier that year after beating Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M in a thriller, telling Kevin Sumlin afterward that he “damn near took 10 years off my life.” The sly grin Saban gave when the Tide recovered a fourth-quarter onside kick in a tie game in the 2015-16 national championship win over Clemson. Those rare instances were fascinating, if brief, glimpses of joy from a man who more often wore a serious expression.

Who is the best player of the Saban era?

Ubben: What a list. It speaks to how wild his run has been that there’s no clear answer. I would probably lean toward physical freak Derrick Henry or Dont’a Hightower. But anyone could make a case for at least seven to 10 players.

Wasserman: This is another impossible question to answer. Heck, four Alabama players won the Heisman Trophy under his leadership. I’ll just go with my personal preference in terms of players who left me in awe while watching, though no matter whom I choose will probably be rightfully scrutinized. My pick would be DeVonta Smith. Though we’ve been blessed with so many elite-level talents in the sport over the last few years, nobody took my breath away more than Smith. He was unstoppable, so much so that he was able to win the Heisman as a wide receiver. It was very hard not to go Derrick Henry — just look at the infamous picture of him at the coin toss in the national title game. Smith was just my favorite Alabama player to watch.

Nick Saban holds the record for coaching 49 first-round NFL Draft picks. Among them are four Heisman trophy winners:

◽️Mark Ingram II
◽️Derrick Henry
◽️DeVonta Smith
◽️Bryce Young

Who would you say is the best player Saban has ever coached? pic.twitter.com/KFdkwmswCZ

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 10, 2024

Emerson: Tua Tagovailoa was the most awe-inspiring player I’ve seen — you only wish he’d had more time. He also symbolized Alabama’s conversion into the modern era, throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and 43 touchdowns in 2018, the one full year he had as a starter. But there are so many other possibilities, on both sides of the ball, which also speaks to how smartly Saban handled his teams. He prioritized line play, offense and defense, but didn’t ignore any position, which is why he produced All-SEC and NFL players everywhere.

Kamrani: I am breaking the rules.

Best offensive player: Derrick Henry, who in college, looked like Super Shredder and made sad people trying to tackle him even more sad after he stomped on their heads on the way to the end zone.

Best defensive player: Minkah Fitzpatrick. I think of Fitzpatrick when I think of a Nick Saban defense, and considering all the wild amounts of very, very good defensive players to be part of the Crimson Tide during the Saban era, that’s saying something. Fitzpatrick felt like watching prime Ken Griffey Jr. patrol the outfield. But instead of diving for a fly ball, he laid out guys who knew they were about to get laid out.

Khan: It’s hard to choose. Tua was one of the best pure passers I’ve seen at the college level. Henry’s combination of size, power and speed was terrorizing. Smith has a case, having won two national titles, catching the game-winning pass on second-and-26 and winning a Heisman Trophy, as Henry did. Fitzpatrick had an impact on the game in so many ways on defense. If I were drafting the players and you made me choose one, I’d take Henry.

How confident are you that Alabama can continue to win at its current level after Saban?

Ubben: It’s not going to happen. No one wins at that level. The next coach can win a national title. I might even bet they would. But no one sustains success for that long without some kind of a dip. It does not happen, and in the era of superconferences, a 12-team Playoff and, most importantly, a transfer portal that makes rosters more transient than ever and makes building and sustaining depth harder than ever, no Alabama coach will have a run like this for this long without a dip or one bad year or blip on the radar screen. It’s not possible.

Wasserman: I believe Alabama will continue to recruit at a high level and make the College Football Playoff with regularity (especially in the 12-team field), but it would be disrespectful to even consider there is a person on this planet who can win national championships with the same regularity. Add into the equation that the SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma, and it’s going to be immeasurably harder to make it through the 12-team field. Kirby Smart has it rolling at Georgia and it seems plausible he could threaten the type of dynasty Saban built, but in this new era of transfer portal and NIL, it might be impossible to duplicate what Alabama did under Saban.

Emerson: If we’re defining “current level” this way, one might point out that Alabama hasn’t won a national championship in three years (gasp!), and, in fact, has lost two games each of those years (the horror!). But we also know Alabama was an overtime away from making this year’s national championship game, which it probably would’ve won, so yes it’s still an elite program. In the new 12-team Playoff era, Alabama under the right coach can still be a regular contender. But the new SEC was going to be a slog for any coach, Saban or otherwise. I’d set the over/under on Alabama for the next 10 years as 1.5 national titles, 2.5 SEC titles and 5.5 Playoff trips.

Kamrani: Current level meaning competing for SEC and national titles? I’ll go 8/10. The infrastructure at Alabama is already in place. They have a solid experienced AD and cash from boosters and NIL that is second-to-none. It boils down to the hire and how he fits in during this new iteration of the SEC, transfer portal, NIL and more. You won’t have a hard time recruiting five-star kids to Alabama for the next few years unless the coach hired to follow Saban fails spectacularly. But, remember, the definition of “fail” is different down there. So we’ll see.

Khan: Winning at its current level (as in, the last two to three years)? I think there’s a solid chance. Winning national titles at the rate Saban did in his Alabama tenure? Almost impossible. If Alabama nails the coaching hire, I think the Crimson Tide will remain an elite program. But as the transfer portal, one-time transfer rule and NIL have changed the game, I think it’s going to be harder for one program to dominate the way Alabama did for as long as it did. Keeping the type of depth on the roster that the Tide did under Saban is harder nowadays. The schedule will get even tougher as Texas and Oklahoma join the conference and the SEC still mulls a nine-game conference schedule. A national champion must now win at least three Playoff games, four if it doesn’t earn a bye in the new 12-team format. All those factors will make it tougher for any team to build a dynasty. But if Alabama gets the right guy, it will remain a national title contender with the immense resources and solid infrastructure that Saban built as long as they continue recruiting at an elite level and remaining competitive in the NIL space for roster retention and transfers.

(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)