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 throughout his career. He left coaching on his own terms last year after an incredibly successful era 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. (Images by Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn)
However, he admitted in a recent interview that there was at least one thing he wanted to get back: jumping from LSU to coach the Miami Dolphins. Saban left the Tigers after winning a national championship to coach the Dolphins for two seasons. He then stated that he would not take the job in Alabama, but ultimately did so anyway.
He said on “The Pivot” that leaving LSU for the NFL was his “biggest mistake.”
“I think sometimes you have to learn about yourself,” he told LSU alumnus Ryan Clark, former Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and former NFL star running back Fred Taylor. “And you would think things… When I left LSU, that was probably ‘professionally’ the biggest mistake I 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 haven’t had success in Miami. I enjoyed coaching in Miami. In that experience I discovered that I like coaching in college better, because you can develop players personally, academically, athletically and all that a little more than professional baseball. “Although I loved the coaching status in professional football and the type of guys you coach, and you’re coaching in the best league against the best players, I loved all that.”
Saban added that his agent, Jimmy Sexton, talked to him about leaving LSU. Saban said Sexton posed the question: “Do you want to be Bear Bryant or Vince Lombardi in terms of his legacy?” Saban said he responded that he wanted to be more like Bryant, but he still chose to go the NFL route.
Head coach Nick Saban smiles as Chad Lavalais, #93, and Stephen Peterman, #72, kiss the ADT National Championship Trophy after winning the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl, defeating Oklahoma 21-14, in New Orleans on January 2004. (Douglas Collier-RED USA TODAY)
Saban will be remembered primarily for his career at Alabama, but his time in the NFL may be the only blemish on his resume that any football fan could point to.
