Alabama Football: Why Nick Saban Is the Best Coach in College Football

Nick Saban’s Alabama team finds itself right in the thick of this year’s national championship race.

It’s a long season, but if Alabama were to win it all, it would be Saban’s second title in three years and the third of his career. As Alabama continues to climb toward this goal, a question will be rehashed and perhaps become more clear than ever.

Is Nick Saban the best coach in college football?

Unequivocally, yes. 

First of all, let’s take a look at the competition. Just a couple of seasons ago there were a bevy of coaches fighting with Saban for this title. However, due to retirement, forced retirement and poor performances, that list has shortened. 

Urban Meyer was Saban’s top competition and actually topped this list before Alabama’s most recent national championship. But now Meyer is gone, leaving no other active coaches other than Joe Paterno with two national championships.

Jim Tressel was also in this discussion. Along with his 2002 National Championship, Tressel boasted a 106-22 record at Ohio State while winning or sharing six straight Big 10 championships. 

Mack Brown was once in this discussion, but after a losing record in 2010 though and the 38-point loss to Oklahoma this season, I don’t hear anyone clamoring for Brown’s name to be mentioned. 

So, who does that leave as a legitimate candidate? Big Game Bob Stoops is always mentioned. Unfortunately, he’s been anything but a big-game coach in his career, unless you count beating Texas.

I won’t harp on the three straight BCS bowl losses from 2007 to 2009, but since Stoops' national championship in 2000, his teams have been consistently good but never great. 

LSU fans would throw Les Miles into the ring, which is very interesting considering they were ready to run him out of town before last season. For all the heat Miles takes, he does some very good things.

He is an excellent recruiter and his teams always play good football. Is Les Miles really the elite of the elite, though?

Finally, there are the coaches at smaller schools such as Chris Peterson and Gary Patterson. Some would argue that if their teams were just given the chance, they would be among the list of coaches with national championships.

To that, I say they’ve made their choices. If they want to compete for championships, they can leave. Clearly they are content with where they are.  

That brings us to Saban, the most visible and powerful coach in college football. No one else besides Paterno has won it twice, let alone at two different schools. Let’s not forget that he’s done this in the toughest conference in college football, too.

While other coaches were dominating weaker conferences, Saban’s teams had to fight to win their division. 

No one recruits harder, works more diligently or strikes more fear into his opponent than Saban. 

With the departure in the last two years of so many great coaches, the battle for top coach in the land has become a runaway. But for how long?

Oklahoma and LSU are right there in the race for the national championship. If either Bob Stoops or Les Miles were to add their second title, the discussion could begin again. 

But for now, Saban stands alone, and it's really not that close.