Now that Nick Saban has three national championships, where would you rank him among coaching greats? ((Jonathan Bachman/Cal Sport Media/Zuma Press/MCT)
Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, Bud Wilkinson, Frank Leahy, Knute Rockne … Nick Saban?
Granted, seeing Saban’s name mentioned in the same sentence with some of college football’s coaching legends looks a little out of place but it shouldn’t. Like Osborne, Switzer and several of the others, the 60-year-old has won three national championships and like some of the others, Saban should be considered a great coach but he is not the best of all-time.
He’s still a far cry from Howard Jones, who won four titles with Yale and then USC. Or Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy, who won four titles in the 1940s. Or Bernie Bierman, who won five titles during his days in Minnesota. He’s only halfway to Alabama legend, Bear Bryant, who won six titles during his reign in Tuscaloosa.
But where does Monday night’s win put Saban among coaching greats?
As modern day coaches go, he is the best. Only former Florida coach Urban Meyer, who won titles in 2006 and 2008, comes even close to him during the BCS era.
At 60, how many more national championships can he win before he decides to retire or move on from the college ranks? Another title and you could put Saban in the top five of all-time great coaches in the history of the game. Results don’t lie.
Here is a look at some of the great college football coaches who have won national titles:
Bear Bryant (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979)
Bernie Bierman (1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941)
Howard Jones (1909, 1928, 1931, 1932)
Frank Leahy (1943, 1946, 1947, 1949)
Nick Saban (2003, 2009, 2011)
Tom Osborne (1994, 1995, 1997)
Barry Switzer (1974, 1975, 1985)
Bud Wilkinson (1950, 1955, 1956)
Knute Rockne (1924, 1929, 1930)
Urban Meyer (2006, 2008)
Bobby Bowden (1993, 1999)
