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Nick Saban is undoubtedly one of the greatest college football coaches of all time. The seven-time national champion has cemented his status as a legend and fellow HC Kirby Smart isn’t shy to acknowledge it.
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The history of college football, especially the Crimson Tide, won’t be complete without mentioning Nick Saban's illustrious career. The SEC is the best conference in college football today because of the groundwork laid by Saban.
Appearing on “The Paul Finebaum Show”, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has given Saban his flowers. The reigning National Champion talked about Saban’s impact on the SEC and the work he’s done at LSU. Here’s what Smart had to say.
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“Nick (Saban) has been tremendous for our sport. Nobody has moved the college football game more than he has. ... The SEC is the premier place primarily because he started bringing national championships there when he came to LSU. He’s done a lot for this game.”
Saban and Smart have a long history, of coaching together and coaching against each other. Smart was the defensive backs under Saban in his LSU days in the 2004 season. The Tigers won their second college championship defeating the Sooners in the same season.
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After LSU, Smart worked with Saban once again, as part of his staff at Alabama. Smart was the assistant head coach, defensive backs coach in 2007, and defensive coordinator from 2008-15 for the Alabama Crimson Tide under Saban.
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The SEC has won the last four college football national championships with Georgia winning the last two and Alabama and LSU winning the rest. The division also has 13 titles in the last 17 years, and Saban has been a major part of it.
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The Crimson Tide head coach has won more national championships than any other head coach with his first one at LSU and another six with Alabama. Alabama has also finished in second place three times under Saban, one of which was against Georgia.
The LSU program that won its first championship in the 1950s was struggling to repeat its success until Saban came on board. The head coach won the Tigers it’s second trophy and set up the program for the future. The Tigers then went on to win again in 2007 and 2019.
With the last three championships, Nick Saban and Kirby Smart have been running the college football scene. Alabama and Georgia is one of the oldest rivalries in football and it’s very likely the 2023-24 championship will end up going to one of the two programs
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