Nick Saban didn’t just win football games; he practically redecorated the sport in crimson and trophies. His career record was a legendary 292–71–1, according to Sports Reference research, and the head coach really made every sideline he touched into a master class in winning.
As a head coach, he had seven national championships, one at LSU in 2003 and six at Alabama from 2009 to 2020, which is the most by any major college coach in history. At Alabama, his record was 206–29, and he also collected 11 conference titles. Saban also sent 49 first-round picks to the NFL and had a knack for developing superstars.
Yes, Saban built a dynasty, but even he has a few regrets. Even Saban can admit that he made some mistakes.
During ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast on Saturday, Nov. 29, Saban talked about the “dumbest” mistake that he made while head coach. It was back in 2001 when he was at LSU.
His Tigers were up against Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game. He regrets going for it on fourth, and the decision still haunts him.
“We go for it on fourth-and-1 on our own 29-yard-line and get stuffed by John Henderson and don’t make it,” Saban said, adding, “We were behind 17-3. We won the game 31-20. I thought it was the dumbest decision I had ever made.”
But after the game, Saban surprisingly got a lot of support from the players for his decision.
“The players came up to me in the locker room after the game and said, ‘Coach, when you went for it on fourth down, we thought you thought we could win, and we played our ass off after that,” Saban said. “So, you have to be aggressive, man. You have to throw caution to the wind and do things that believe and trust in your players.”
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Saban’s takeaway in this situation was not to get tricky or try new things in big games. The nerves are already through the roof, and it’s better to play it safe than be sorry.
“Don’t change a lot of stuff,” Saban said during the program. “Don’t put a lot of new stuff in. Do what the players are confident in. The thing we always did was we were always installing stuff throughout the course of the year that the players had confidence in that the other team had never seen before.”
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So, even legends like Saban aren’t immune to a bit of humble pie. But Saban coming clean and admitting his biggest mistake shows that one of the reasons that he’s great is that he doesn’t just win, he grows.
