Alabama Football: Measuring Nick Saban’s impressive longevity

There are many ways to measure Nick Saban as college football’s all-time GOAT. One measurement is Saban’s unusual longevity. It took many years for Saban to decide to become a head coach.

At the earliest point in his career, he changed his plan to go into automobile sales, because Don James talked him into being a graduate assistant at Kent State.  The decision led to assistant coaching positions at Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, Navy and Michigan State, before becoming an NFL assistant in 1988. After his first head coach job at Toldeo, Saban left after one season to become an NFL assistant again.

In 1995, at the age of 42, Nick Saban settled into being a head coach. The 2023 season will be his 28th as a college football head coach.

Much differently, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant knew at a young age he wanted to be a head coach. Some of the Bear’s early peers would have said, Bryant’s intense zeal meant he ‘had’ to become a head coach. Bryant was 32 when he landed the Maryland head coaching job. He would coach for 38 seasons, 25 of them in Tuscaloosa.

Few men in college football’s history have coached longer than Bryant. Joe Paterno did, for 46 seasons; Amos Alonzo Stagg for 43; Pop Warner for 42, and Bobby Bowden for 40 seasons.

It is no wonder why four of the five men are at the top of most career wins. They are also the only four coaches with 300-plus wins. Paterno compiled 409 wins; Bowden, 357; Bryant, 323; Warner, 311.

Nick Saban is No. 5 with 285 victories. Barring any health issues, Saban appears destined to pass Warner and Bryant. Nick may also pass Bowden and who is to say the Paterno number is unreachable?

Only two of college football’s active head coaches are within 100 wins of Saban. They are Kirk Ferentz with 186 wins and Mack Brown with 268.

Saban is also likely to pass Bryant’s record of wins as an Alabama Football head coach. Bryant’s total is 232. Saban should be less than four seasons behind at 194. That milestone could be reached in the 2025 season.

Another Nick Saban Distinction

Only 10 active college football head coaches have posted wins over a Saban-coached team. Two, Kirk Ferentz and Mack Brown beat LSU teams in bowl games. The other eight have a total of 12 wins over Saban, led by Gus Malzahn with three, and Hugh Freeze and Dabo Swinney with two each. Having one win against a Saban-Alabama team are Kirby Smart, Josh Heupel, Brian Kelly, Jimbo Fisher and Kyle Whittingham.

Note: Data for the post was retrieved from Sports Reference

There are other former college football head coaches who surpassed 300 wins, led by John Gagliardi with 489 wins and Eddie Robinson with 409 wins. Coaches from lower division programs are generally not included in ‘all-time’ college football, coaching wins lists.