Alabama head coach Nick Saban reacts after a second-half landing in the course of the Rose Bowl CFP NCAA semifinal faculty soccer recreation in opposition to eventual nationwide champion Michigan on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024, in Pasadena, Calif.

Kyusung Gong/AP

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Kyusung Gong/AP

Nick Saban’s teaching reign has come to an finish. His dominance over faculty soccer, nevertheless, will perpetually linger within the lore of the game.

Saban, who received seven nationwide championships — greater than every other main faculty soccer coach — and turned Alabama again right into a nationwide powerhouse with six of these titles in simply 17 seasons, is retiring, based on a number of shops.

The 72-year-old Saban restored a Crimson Tide program as soon as dominated by Paul “Bear” Bryant to the highest of faculty soccer after taking up in 2007. His determination to step away was reported Wednesday, first by ESPN after which by different shops, ending a profession that has produced quite a few titles and helped launch or relaunch the top teaching careers of Georgia’s Kirby Smith, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian and Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin.

He completed simply shy of the highest in his closing season, main the Tide from a shaky begin to a Southeastern Conference championship and again into the College Football Playoff earlier than falling in overtime to Michigan in a semifinal recreation on the Rose Bowl.

Saban led the Tide to 9 Southeastern Conference championships and received his first nationwide title at Alabama with a 14-0 season in 2009. Titles got here once more in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. He additionally received the SEC with LSU in 2001 and 2003.

Colorado coach Deion Sanders, who has appeared with Saban in a sequence of commercials, had a robust response to each the Alabama coach’s retirement and the state of faculty soccer.

“WOW! College Football just lost the GOAT to retirement,” Sanders posted on X. “WOW! I knew it would happen 1 day soon but not this soon. The game has change so much that it chased the GOAT away. College football let’s hold up our mirrors and say HONESTLY what u see.”

Cementing his legacy at Alabama

Saban made a two-year foray into the NFL with the Miami Dolphins earlier than returning to varsity soccer to revive one among faculty soccer’s most storied packages, which hadn’t received a nationwide title in 15 years. Saban is 297-71-1 as a school head coach, with stops at Toledo, Michigan State and LSU, the place he additionally received a nationwide title. But Alabama is the place he cemented his standing as one among faculty soccer’s biggest coaches.

Saban coached Alabama’s first 4 Heisman Trophy winners and churned out quite a few NFL gamers, going 206-29, a successful clip of 87.7%. His groups produced 44 first-round draft picks, together with final yr’s No. 1 quarterback Bryce Young.

During that span, he additionally tailored to the altering instances of up-tempo offenses, churning out high-scoring groups after successful with a number of the nation’s greatest defenses, together with the brand new NIL and switch guidelines.

He led Toledo to a Mid-American Conference championship in 1990, his lone season as that program’s head coach. Saban labored as Bill Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns for 4 seasons earlier than changing into the primary Michigan State coach to guide his first three groups to bowl video games after which taking LSU to the 2003 nationwide title.

His newest crew handled loads of adversity early on, together with a loss to Texas, however rebounded with the emergence of quarterback Jalen Milroe to upset then-No. 1 Georgia within the SEC championship recreation.

Saban did not sound like a coach wanting to surrender the job any time quickly after the sport. But it wasn’t a nasty method to go, even with out the title.

“This is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history in terms of where this team came from, what they were able to accomplish and what they were able to do, winning the SEC championship, and really, really proud of this group,” he stated.

“I just wish that I could have done more as a coach to help them be successful and help them finish, and all we can do now is learn from the lessons that sometimes failings bring to us.”