Background and career
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. ( SAY-bən; born October 31, 1951) is an American sportscaster and former football coach. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay, a television program covering college football. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest football coaches of all time. Saban served as head coach of the National Football League (NFL)'s Miami Dolphins and at four universities: the University of Toledo, Michigan State University, Louisiana State University (LSU), and most famously the University of Alabama, where he coached from 2007 to 2023 and led the team to six claimed national championships and one unclaimed championship in nine championship appearances during that period, as well as 9 SEC titles and 10 SEC West Division championships. As a college football head coach, Saban won seven claimed national titles and one unclaimed national title, the most in college football history. His first came when he led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2003. He then coached the Alabama Crimson Tide to BCS and AP national championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and to College Football Playoff championships in 2015, 2017 and 2020 with Alabama also having an unclaimed National Championship in 2016 that was selected by Colley. He became the first coach in college football history to win a national championship with two different Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936. Saban and Bear Bryant are the only coaches to win an SEC championship at two different schools. Saban's career record as a college head coach is 292–71–1. Saban was inducted into the Independence Hall of Honor in 2008, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2025. He coached four Heisman Trophy winners at Alabama: Mark Ingram II (2009), Derrick Henry (2015), DeVonta Smith (2020), and Bryce Young (2021). In 2025, Saban was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.
Saban was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, to Mary and Nick Lou Saban Sr. and grew up in the nearby town of Monongah. His parents owned a small service station and his father founded and coached a youth football team. He has one sister, Dianna, and graduated from Monongah High School in 1969. In high school, Saban played football. He played quarterback and helped lead Monongah to the 1968 West Virginia Class A state championship his senior year. Among his teammates were Kerry Marbury, who went on to star for the West Virginia Mountaineers and play in the Canadian Football League. Saban attended Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, and played defensive back for the Golden Flashes under coach Don James. He and a roommate avoided being part of the Kent State shootings, on May 4, 1970, when they decided to eat lunch before walking to the rally area. While attending KSU, he married Terry Constable, also from West Virginia, on December 18, 1971 in Fairmont. Saban graduated from Kent State in 1973 with a bachelor's degree in business, and in 1975, earned his master's degree in sports administration, also from Kent State. Saban's father died during his son's first year of graduate school. Saban is of Croatian ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Stanko Saban, was born in 1895 in Gospić, in the Lika region of Croatia. Stanko emigrated to Portland, Oregon, in 1908, when he was 13 years old. He later married Anna Mihalic, of Croatian-American heritage.
Saban had not intended to enter the coaching ranks until Don James hired him as a graduate assistant at Kent State, while Saban waited for his wife to graduate. He later served as an assistant coach in NCAA Division I-A, at several schools: Syracuse in 1977, West Virginia in 1978 and 1979, Ohio State in 1980 and 1981, Navy in 1982, and Michigan State from 1983 to 1987. After the 1987 season, Kent State passed over Saban for its vacant head coaching position and hired Dick Crum. Saban was then hired as an assistant for the Houston Oilers in the National Football League.
Saban began his career as a head coach when he was hired by the University of Toledo on December 22, 1989. Coming off of 6–5 seasons in both 1988 and 1989, the Rockets found quick success under Nick Saban in 1990. With a 9–2 season, Toledo was co-champion of the Mid-American Conference. The two games the Rockets lost that season were by narrow margins: one point to Central Michigan and four points to Navy. While coaching in Toledo, Saban turned down an application from future head coach Urban Meyer, who was looking for any coaching job on Saban's staff.
The following February, Saban resigned as Toledo's head coach after only one season in order to become defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns under head coach Bill Belichick. He remained in that position for four seasons. Saban helped lead the 1994 defensive unit for the Browns that was the best in the NFL in points allowed. Saban later said these four years were the "worst of my life".
Saban became head coach of Michigan State prior to the 1995 season. Michigan State had not had a winning season since 1990, and the team was sanctioned by the NCAA for recruiting violations that were committed under his predecessor and former mentor, George Perles. Beginning in 1995, Saban moderately improved Michigan State's fortunes, taking the Spartans to bowl games in each of his first three seasons. From 1995 to 1997, Michigan State finished 6–5–1, 6–6, and 7–5.
