Alabama Football: Now Coach K can never top Saban

Coach K’s retirement puts him behind the Alabama football legend forever

When you are as legendary as Coach K, you can’t be compared to coaches in your sport. You face off against legends across all sports and eras. With this retirement, Krzyzewski is permanently behind Alabama football‘s Nick Saban.

Coach K has one more season to add to the record books before walking away from college basketball. Regardless of what he does in his final season with Duke, he will be one of the greatest coaches of all time. However, he can’t compare with Saban’s sustained success with the Crimson Tide.

Krzyzewski has five national titles to his name over his 46 years as a head coach. Even if the Blue Devils win another championship for his swan song, he will have fewer championships than Saban.

Saban already has six titles with the Crimson Tide, and his one ring with LSU makes it seven. With recent recruiting, Alabama football is poised to continue to compete for a national title for the foreseeable future.

It may be unfair to compare titles in different sports. It’s a lot harder to make it through the NCAA Tournament unscathed. However, Coach K has also had three times as many seasons with Duke as Saban has had with the Crimson Tide.

Saban also has a better win percentage than Coach K. However, the one data point that separates Alabama football’s GOAT from Duke’s is the sustained success. No one can deny Duke’s dynasty in recent years, but Saban has a more impressive feat. It took Coach K until his fourth year for Duke to even reach the NCAA Tournament. In Saban’s third year with Alabama, they won his first championship. Over his entire coaching career with the Tide, every recruiting class has won at least one championship, and some have won as many as three.

Coach K’s career is nothing short of historic. However, he can officially never topple Nick Saban.