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 carry a long list of regrets during 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. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
However, he admitted in a recent interview that there was at least one thing he wishes he could get back — jumping from LSU to coach the Miami Dolphins. Saban famously left the Tigers after winning a national championship to coach the Dolphins for two seasons. He then claimed he didn’t want to take the Alabama job, but eventually did anyway.
He said on “The Pivot” 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 might be thinking things … When I left LSU, it was probably ‘professionally’ the biggest mistake I ever made,” he admitted.
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Nick Saban is introduced as the new Miami Dolphins head coach at the Dolphins practice facility in Davie, Florida on January 4, 2005. (Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports)
“Not because we weren’t successful in Miami. I enjoyed coaching in Miami. I found out from that experience that I like coaching college better because you can develop players personally, academically, athletically and all that little bit more than professional ball Even though I loved the status of coaching in professional football and the kind of guys you coach and you coach in the best league against the best players, I loved all of that.”
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 his legacy?” Saban said he replied that he wanted to be more like Bryant, but chose 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)
Saban will mostly be remembered for his run at Alabama, but his stint in the NFL might be the only blemish on his resume any football fan could point to.
