Nick Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time, winning 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 career regrets. 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. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
However, he admitted in a recent interview that there is at least one thing he wishes he could go back to — moving from LSU to coaching Miami Dolphins. Saban famously left the Tigers after winning a national championship to coach the Dolphins for two seasons. At the time, he claimed he wouldn’t take the Alabama job, but eventually did.
He said further “Switch” leaving LSU for the NFL was his “biggest mistake.”
“I think sometimes you have to learn about yourself,” he told LSU alum Ryan Clark, former Dolphins player Channing Crowder and former NFL star running back Fred Taylor. “And you might think things … When I left LSU, it was probably the biggest ‘professional’ mistake I ever made,” he admitted.
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Nick Saban is unveiled 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 in Miami. I enjoyed coaching in Miami. In that experience, I discovered that I like coaching in college more, because you can develop players personally, academically, athletically, and all that a little bit more than professional ball, even though I loved the status of a coach in professional football and the 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 it leaves LSU. Saban said Sexton asked 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 decided to go the NFL route anyway.
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 4, 2004. (Douglas Collier-USA TODAY NETWORK)
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Saban will be mostly remembered for his work at Alabama, but his stint in the NFL might be the only blemish on his resume that any football fan could point to.
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