NOTHING LEFT FOR NICK SABAN TO WIN AS THE GREATEST COLLEGE COACH EVER

He carried on through changing American times and kept thriving, almost beating Michigan in the national semifinal, and as Bill Belichick might fade away, Saban was at his best in his final season

     In a time when we grant acclaim to the most absolute of football coaches, this should be uttered for Nick Saban. He never surrendered. He didn’t finish among the worst. He didn’t slip into indifference. To the end, he was the best in his profession, until Michigan’s defense stopped him before he won an eighth national title.

     Our mental processes maintain activity on a day when Saban and Pete Carroll depart the profession in the same afternoon, with Bill Belichick possibly hours away. They would encompass a total of 16 championships over decades, and no one will deny that Saban is the all-time best on campus and Belichick is the all-time best in the NFL. They did a documentary together, “The Art Of Coaching,” and as they leave, the younger people who wish to win just once should watch.

     There is nothing more for Saban to accomplish unless he wanted one last try at the pros, which oddly left him dry for two years in Miami. Encompassing seasons of change in the attitudes of American young people, he carried on and coached ball the way he always was taught, starting in the wilds of West Virginia and into the Midwest. Not until he butted heads with the Southeast did his fervor to win with extraordinary consistency, first at LSU and then at the home of Bear Bryant, become a historic eminence.

     He dealt with race in Tuscaloosa. He dealt with kids aching to be pros. He dealt with social media. He dealt with the transfer portal along with names, images and likenesses. He took on the SEC and turned it into the nation’s dominant conference as college football generated billions instead of millions. He reached the final four of the playoff eight times in 10 tries. When Georgia won back-to-back titles, with his disciple Kirby Smart, he returned with a team hardened by an early loss and beat the Bulldogs. This was the time to leave because — what else? — he might win No. 8 next season at age 73?

     Before he lost in the Rose Bowl to Jim Harbaugh, whom he casually ripped for the signal-stealing that will accompany his championship, Saban was asked if he might retire. “Yeah, I’ve heard them before,” he said. “I think when you get to my age, everybody is waiting for you to — you know.” You Know happened. After 28 years and 292 victories, he was thrilled that fans appreciated his final act. “It’s a good feeling,” he said, after years of criticizing Alabama fans for taking the best for granted. “It doesn’t happen all the time.”

     He made it official after dinner Wednesday. “The University of Alabama has been a very special place to Terry and me,” Saban said. “We have enjoyed every minute of our 17 years being the head coach at Alabama as well as becoming a part of the Tuscaloosa community. It is not just about how many games we won and lost, but it's about the legacy and how we went about it. We always tried to do it the right way. The goal was always to help players create more value for their future, be the best player they could be and be more successful in life because they were part of the program. Hopefully, we have done that, and we will always consider Alabama our home.”

     Said the school’s athletic director, Greg Byrne: “Simply put, Nick Saban is one of the greatest coaches of all time, in any sport, and the University of Alabama is fortunate to have had him leading our football program for the past 17 seasons. He is the consummate coach, mentor and leader, and his impact is felt far beyond the football field. ... While his time as our coach may have come to an end, his legacy will live on forever. What an honor it has been for us to have a front-row seat to one of the best to ever do it. A truly remarkable career for Coach Saban.”

     What will he do now? Like Belichick and Carroll, you wonder how they’ll escape. Is Saban a TV character? No, though he can continue his Aflac commercials with Deion Sanders. “College Football just lost the GOAT,” Sanders said. “WOW! I knew it would happen 1 day soon but not this soon. The game has change(d) so miuch that it chased the GOAT away. College football, let’s hold up our mirrors and say HONESTLY what u see.”

     The sport has evolved into madness, no doubt, but not the story he couldn’t overcome. He didn’t leave because of transfers and NIL as he kept winning anyway. Will he help the incoming coach? God help the poor fellow, having to step into those footprints. Who’s the crazy man who will serve as a successor? You’ll hear the name of Dan Lanning, at Oregon, who understands the SEC as a former Georgia defensive coordinator at age 37. You might wonder about former Crimson Tide linebacker DeMeco Ryans, who just led the Houston Texans to the playoffs in his first season. Would Mike Norvell leave the Florida State mess?

     Departing the SEC before its latest expansion — Texas and Oklahoma in 2024 — means Saban won’t grow more gray hairs reaching the new 12-team postseason. Alabama must thrash through startling competition when only three teams might get in. He doesn’t need that stress. His finest coup was just exhibited, with Jalen Milroe giving Harbaugh more headaches than Washington did Monday night.

     “This is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history in terms of where this team came from, what they were able to accomplish and what they were able to do, winning the SEC championship, and really, really proud of this group,” Saban said last week. “I just wish that I could have done more as a coach to help them be successful and help them finish, and all we can do now is learn from the lessons that sometimes failings bring to us.”

     Only Nick Saban could find disappointment in success. He had few failings, as a coach and father and administrator. While he was at LSU, a Chicago Bears general manager flew to Baton Rouge and attempted to hire him. This was before he was a legend. The team’s bosses said no. It was the best rejection he ever had.

     Eight years before his 80th birthday, he polished his team like few coaches who ever lived. He could have gone forever. Instead, he’ll accept his lake house.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.