How many national championships does Nick Saban have? Exploring the illustrious career of Alabama HC

Alabama coach Nick Saban is one of the most well-known names in college football, and the number of national championships he has won pretty much sums up his success.

How many national championships does Nick Saban have?

Nick Saban has claimed an incredible seven national titles: 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, and most recently, 2020.

With this incredible achievement, Saban beats even the legendary Bear Bryant for the most national championships won by a head coach in college football history. He’s undoubtedly in a class by himself.

Although he has won most of his national championships at Alabama, Nick Saban’s road to glory didn’t start overnight. His coaching journey has taken him through various college football programs, such as Ohio State and Michigan State, as an assistant coach. His first head coaching appointment was at Toledo in 1990.

But it wasn’t until 2003 that Saban captured his first national championship as head coach. He led the LSU Tigers to their first national title since 1958 in a victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS National Championship Game. This victory will mark the start of Saban’s dominance in college football.

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Nick Saban and Alabama: A match made for national championships

2022 CFP National Championship - Georgia vs. Alabama

After two uninspiring NFL seasons and a 15-17 record with the Miami Dolphins, Saban returned to the college football scene in 2007. When he became coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, he put himself in the wrong books of LSU fans, who idolized him.

However, Nick Saban's arrival at Tuscaloosa began a new era for the prestigious football program. He won his first national title for Alabama in 2009, the second of his career.

In a dominating run, he won back-to-back national championships for the Crimson Tide in 2011 and 2012. This brought his career titles to four and his tally at Alabama to three.

These wins solidified Saban's position at the top of college football, and he maintained his grip on this position in the years to come. More national championship titles followed in 2015 and 2017, putting him in the conversation for the greatest college football coach of all time.

The two-time AP College Football Coach of the Year (2003, 2008) coach most recently won the national title in 2020 amidst a global pandemic that threatened college football, like most other sports.

Ironically, his protege, Kirby Smart, ended Alabama’s reign and has defended the college football national title as the Georgia Bulldogs coach for two straight seasons. And this should be Nick Saban’s greatest legacy, having developed another generation of elite college football coaches.