Alabama Football: What Back-to-Back Titles Would Mean for Nick Saban and Staff

With two of the last three crystal footballs on display in the Mal Moore Athletic Facility, Nick Saban has clearly established the Alabama football program as college football’s premier gridiron powerhouse. 

Considering how dominant they have been under Saban (Alabama has gone 48-6 over the last four seasons), it’s not a stretch to say that their program is the envy of every other school across the nation.

This fall, Saban and the Crimson Tide will try to claim the school’s 15th national title—and become the first team to repeat as national champions since Nebraska in 1994-95. 

Besides adding more hardware to the trophy case, what would back-to-back titles mean for Saban and his staff? 

For Saban, a fourth national title would elevate him past coaching luminaries like Tom Osborne, Knute Rockne, Bud Wilkinson and Darrell Royal (all with three national titles), amongst others. 

A third national championship in his sixth season at the helm in Tuscaloosa would undoubtedly fuel chatter about him entering the territory currently reserved for the most iconic coach of all-time:  Paul “Bear” Bryant. 

While Saban is already in rarefied air in the coaching fraternity regardless of what happens this season, the members of his staff would certainly benefit from a repeat. 

New offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier could follow in the footsteps of the man he is replacing (former play-caller Jim McElwain is entering his first season as the head coach at Colorado State this fall), and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart is already on the radar as one of the nation’s top assistants.

The Crimson Tide’s position coaches would certainly have opportunities for pay raises or promotions with another title. 

Anytime a school becomes powerful enough to invoke talk of a modern dynasty, the downfall of the programs that reach those levels often follows when its assistant coaches are consistently poached away (think Florida State in the early 2000s, USC in the middle of the last decade and Florida at the end of the Urban Meyer era in Gainesville). 

Whether or not that happens to Alabama remains to be seen, but expect Saban to reshuffle his staff each offseason as long as the Crimson Tide keeps piling up wins. 

Even with two new assistant hires this offseason (although new linebackers coach Lance Thompson has worked at Alabama with Saban in a previous stint), the Crimson Tide shows no signs of loosening its grip on the SEC or the nation for that matter. 

Capturing another national championship would further cement the legacy of Saban and his assistants—and add to a run that will certainly be remembered as perhaps the most prolific reign of dominance in the modern college football era. 

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