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Alabama and Nick Saban Attempt to Defy the Fire of History

Only Bobby Bowden won a national championship at age 70. Will Nick Saban break that record or make a fool of himself?

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By Rock Westfall

70 is Death In College Football Coaching  

Bobby Bowden led Florida State to the 1999 national championship at age 70. He remains the oldest coach to win a natty. It would have been the perfect time for Bowden to ride off into the sunset, celebrated as one of the GOATS. Instead, he is remembered for hanging on for another ten seasons and leaving the game as a doddering old fool. He never again came close to a natty and had to be nudged off the stage by Florida State administrators with the screaming help of annoyed fans.

An even more pathetic case was Joe Paterno of Penn State. Paterno kept his legacy respectable until hitting age 74 in 2000. From that point, he increasingly became a figurehead that was less involved. Penn State did indeed remain Top 10- relevant as Paterno hit his 80s. But his coaching staff propped him up to an embarrassing degree by then, and everyone saw it.

Finally, at age 84, Paterno was fired for the Jerry Sandusky scandal that happened under his watch. Joe Paterno went from GOAT to disgrace and as something of a coaching fraud. His statue was removed, North Korean style, and he remains a historic pariah.

Ironically, in those days, Paterno and Bowden battled for the most coaching wins in college football history. Yet their ultimate legacies are as coaches who hung on too long and were forced out in discredit and humiliation.

While Paterno and Bowden are sad tales, other GOATS got out in their prime and with their legacy and dignity intact. 

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Coaches Smart Enough to Know When to Say When 

At Nebraska, program Godfather Bob Devaney retired in 1972 at age 57. He went 9-2-1 with an Orange Bowl win on the heels of two national championship seasons when he hung it up. He became athletic director and handed the whistle to Tom Osborne. Osborne retired in 1997, at age 60, after winning his third national championship in four years.

Notre Dame GOAT Ara Parseghian retired in 1974 at age 51, one season removed from his second national championship. The Era of Ara ended with a 10-2 record and an Orange Bowl championship.

Texas legend Darrell Royal retired at age 52 in 1976 after slipping to 5-5-1. He is not remembered for that final season but instead as the man whom the stadium is named after. Royal was smart enough not to press the point and got out as a beloved figure.

Michigan GOAT Bo Schembechler retired in 1989 at age 60. His final season was a 10-2 Big Ten championship with a trip to the Rose Bowl.

Barry Alvarez, the literal savior and Godfather of Wisconsin football, retired in 2005 at age 59. He went 10-3 and won the Capital One Bowl with a final national ranking of 15th. From that point, Alvarez served as Wisconsin athletic director and bequeathed a program to Bret Bielema that would go on to even greater heights, including three Rose Bowl appearances in the seven seasons that followed.

Even the great Steve Spurrier had to surrender to Super 70. The Ol’ Ball Coach fired himself at age 70 after a 2-4 start in 2015 at South Carolina. But because he got out fast, nobody remembers that bad ending. All they recall is that Spurrier was the GOAT of Florida and South Carolina.

One of the few coaches to successfully hang in there through his 70s was Bill Snyder, the miracle worker of Kansas State. Snyder retired in 2018 at age 79, not long after beating cancer. Snyder kept the Wildcats competitive to the end, but a 5-7 final season told him it was time. He protected his legacy, and Bill Snyder Family Stadium is his tribute. He is one of the few coaches to defy the magic number 70 with sustained success.

Finally, let’s not forget the late great Alabama legend Bear Bryant, who retired as a God-like figure in 1982 at age 69. Bryant retired after going 8-4 and winning the Liberty Bowl. It was his first season since 1970 that he did not finish in the Top 10. Sadly, he died a few weeks after retiring. But the state of Alabama lined up on roads and bridges to bid the late legend farewell during his funeral procession.  Bear Bryant exited the stage as the John Wayne of college football coaches.  

As we can see, the closer a coach retires to age 60, the happier the ending. All of this leads to the future of college football and Alabama GOAT Nick Saban.

The Ebb of the Tide?

Back to the Number 70.

Nick Saban won his most recent national championship at age 69 (2020). It may have been the best and most dominant of his Alabama teams. Now, let’s not kid ourselves; Saban has remained highly effective with records of 13-2, 11-2, and 12-2 in the three seasons that followed.

This year, there are plenty of pundits and coaches saying that Saban pulled off the greatest coaching performance of his career. And perhaps he did. Alabama finished 12-2, upset Georgia in the SEC championship game, and led Michigan in the College Football Playoff 20-13 with 4:41 to play in the game.

However…

The 2023 Crimson Tide was nowhere near a vintage Alabama team. At the beginning was an offense that ranked a pedestrian 54th in the nation. Defensively, the Crimson Tide ranked 18th overall. Those numbers are not what Saban was putting up at his peak powers. 

Consider that in his final national championship season, Saban’s offense ranked 2nd in the nation for scoring. His 2023 offensive output dropped 14 points per game from that high. And while his defense has been consistently solid, it has not been dominant since 2017, when it allowed the fewest points in the land.

In 2023, Alabama stumbled out of the gate with a 34-24 home loss to a Texas team that also failed to get past the College Football Playoff semifinal. 

As time goes on, Georgia will regret letting down its guard against Alabama in a 27-24 loss in the SEC championship game. UGA outgained Alabama 321-306 but committed a costly turnover and failed to make clutch stops at the end.

In the Rose Bowl CFP semifinal, Alabama failed to make stops when it mattered most. Michigan outgained Alabama 351-288 and averaged 5.9 yards per play compared to 4.4 for Alabama.

What was most alarming in the Rose Bowl was that the Alabama offensive line was bullied and beaten decisively. The Bama O-line could not sustain drives. Michigan Manhood prevailed, 27-20.  

On the other side of the line, the Crimson Tide defensive staff was schooled and fooled on a brilliant 4th-and-2 call by Michigan on its own 33-yard line with 3:19 to play. In a do-or-die scenario, JJ McCarthy hit a wide-open Blake Corum in the right flat for a long catch-and-run that set up the game-tying TD and sent the game into overtime.

In the past, Saban’s defenses would have never failed to finish a game when leading by a TD late. And the thought of them being caught with their pants down on a 4th-and-two deep in the opponent’s territory would have been considered blasphemy. Yet it happened. Alabama’s defense was caught flat-footed at the most crucial moments late in the game. It was embarrassing. And such trickery never used to beat a Nick Saban team until it did.

But Alabama’s weaknesses were apparent throughout the game. Alabama could not make a game-breaking play on offense. Its center, Seth McLaughlin, continued his season-long struggle with bad snaps and miscommunications with QB Jalen Milroe. The disillusioned McLaughlin has since left the program.

Alabama is now committing little mistakes and penalties that other lesser programs would make. Alabama remains a good program. But it is no longer dominant, and it is slipping.

Saban Confronts a New World at 72 

When Saban began his Alabama dynasty with the 2009 national championship, LSU was wasting superior talent under the buffoonery of Les Miles. Talented Georgia was also not hitting par under the fine Christian man, sleepy Mark Richt. Tennessee fell into mediocrity with a revolving door of coaches, and Florida was imploding under the frayed nerves of Urban Meyer. Other programs would rise and fall, but none could sustain success.

To Saban’s credit, he took full advantage, and the Crimson Tide rolled to six nattys. But then came NIL and the transfer portal. As former Saban assistant and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said, there was always NIL; now, it is in the open for everyone to see. 

Additionally, Fisher alluded to illegalities at Alabama under Saban, as have others. But like a good mafia boss, Saban was always several layers away from the shenanigans. Now, none of that matters. There is no law.

Not only is college football in a lawless age, but the SEC has significantly upgraded in coaching competition. Saban is no longer able to count on overmatching his coaching rivals, nor can he bank on other schools failing to ensure their players get the bag.

The SEC is on the cusp of entering its most competitive age, with blue bloods Oklahoma and Texas arriving from the Big 12 to join LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia as rising or established powers.

On the national scene, the Big Ten is poised to become the premier football conference in America, with Pac-12 powers Oregon and Washington joining Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and other potential emerging contenders like Nebraska.  

The Ultimate Tell 

When Nick Saban gushes about how proud he is of the 2023 Crimson Tide and of how much they had to overcome, it’s an admission of weakness. 

Normally, Alabama has not had to figure out its quarterbacking for half a season under Saban. Nor did the Crimson Tide repeatedly shoot itself in the foot the way it did in 2023.  There is no way an Alabama defense would fail to finish a championship-level game with a late lead.  And Alabama was renowned as the standard for dominant offensive line play.  

But the harsh truth is that Alabama’s 2023 season was a fluke. Never forget, if not for a 4th-and-31 miracle pass from Jalen Milroe to Isaiah Bond on the final play of the Iron Bowl at Auburn, we would not have Alabama or Saban on our minds. The great and mighty Nicktator needed a Hail Mary against a 6-7 Auburn team that was run off its home field by New Mexico State 31-10 the week before to survive.

Nick Saban can write his own ticket and do whatever he wants. He has even been mentioned as the potential first College Football Commissioner. Perhaps he should seriously mull that over. We’re not in 2009 anymore.

The adage has been to never bet against Nick Saban. Since Monday night, millions will beg to differ.

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