Nick Saban retires: A timeline of the seven-time national champion's coaching career

Alabama head coach Nick Saban is now former Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

The most successful coach in modern college football history retired Wednesday after 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide. The former college defensive back got his start coaching in the 1970s and got his first head-coaching job in 1990.

Here's a timeline of a coaching career that spanned more than 300 victories as a head coach in both college football and the NFL and included seven national championships over the past 21 seasons.

1973: Saban starts his coaching career at his alma mater

After playing defensive back for three seasons at Kent State, Saban moved into a graduate assistant role for the 1973 and 1974 seasons. After two years as a GA, he coached linebackers for the school before moving on to Syracuse for a season and then to his home state of West Virginia, where he coached defensive backs for the Mountaineers in 1978 and 1979.

1990: Saban gets his first head-coaching job

Saban was well-traveled through the 1980s, as he had stints at Ohio State, Navy, Michigan State and the Houston Oilers. His longest stop during the decade was Michigan State, where he served as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach from 1983 to '87.

He left the Spartans after the 1987 season to become the defensive backs coach for the Houston Oilers. He spent two seasons in the NFL before he was hired as Toledo’s head coach ahead of the 1990 season.

Saban wasn’t at Toledo very long. After improving the team from 6-5 in 1989 to 9-2 in 1990, he went back to the NFL and became the defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns.

1995: Saban comes back to Michigan State

Saban spent four years with the Browns as Bill Belichick’s top defensive assistant. The Browns finished below .500 in Saban’s first three seasons with the team but improved to 11-5 in 1994 and had the best scoring defense in the NFL, at 12.8 points per game.

After a 29-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round of the playoffs, Saban left the Browns for his second college head-coaching job. After three consecutive six-loss seasons, Michigan State hired Saban to replace George Perles.

1999: Saban leaves Michigan State for LSU

Michigan State didn’t have a losing season in any of Saban’s first four years with the school but also never won more than seven games. The Spartans had a record of 26-22-1 through the first four years of Saban’s tenure but made a big leap in 1999.

Michigan State started 6-0 before ending the season on a three-game winning streak to finish the regular season at 9-2. Those nine wins included victories over Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State.

As Michigan State was having one of its best seasons in years, LSU was struggling. The Tigers went 4-7 under Gerry DiNardo in 1998 and started the 1999 season 2-8 before DiNardo was fired after a 20-7 loss to Houston, a Conference USA program at the time.

DiNardo’s firing put LSU in the coaching market, and the Tigers made a hire that ended up changing the landscape of college football.

2003: LSU wins first national title since 1958

The Tigers won eight games in Saban’s first season and then went 10-3 in 2001. After an 8-5 campaign in 2002, LSU entered the season No. 14 in the AP Top 25. That was as low as LSU would be ranked all season.

LSU started the season 5-0 and knocked off No. 7 Georgia 17-10 in Week 4. A loss to Florida was only a blip, as LSU reeled off six straight wins to clinch the SEC West and earn a spot in the conference title game.

The Tigers met Georgia again in Atlanta and easily took down the Bulldogs 34-13. The win moved LSU from No. 3 to No. 2 in the BCS rankings and secured the Tigers a spot in the Sugar Bowl to play for the national title.

LSU beat Oklahoma 21-14 on Jan. 4, 2004, as Oklahoma’s high-flying offense was held in check.

2004: Saban leaves LSU for the Miami Dolphins

Even though he had just won his first national title, Saban felt the pull of the NFL. LSU followed its national title-winning season with a 9-2 campaign that included losses to Auburn and Georgia.

The Miami Dolphins, meanwhile, were in the market for a new head coach after firing Dave Wannstedt in the middle of the season. Miami had stumbled to a 4-2 record in 2004 after winning 10 games in 2003 and was intrigued by Saban’s success as a college head coach and NFL assistant.

Saban accepted the position on Christmas Day and embarked on another NFL journey. LSU finished the season 9-3 after a Capital One Bowl loss and hired Les Miles as Saban’s successor.

2007: Saban heads back to college

The Dolphins went 9-7 in Saban’s first season and finished second in the AFC East to the New England Patriots. In 2006, the Dolphins took a step back. The team had signed former Minnesota Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper in the offseason as Culpepper was recovering from a significant knee injury sustained in 2005. The signing of Culpepper didn’t work out; he was a shell of his former self and played in just four games in 2006 as Joey Harrington ended up being the team’s primary quarterback.

As Miami struggled through a 6-10 season, Alabama was sliding backward, too. The Crimson Tide went 10-2 in Mike Shula’s third season in 2005 but fell to 6-6 in 2006. The school decided to part ways with legendary Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula’s son after his fourth year, and suddenly, the top job at one of the most historically successful programs in the country was open.

On Jan. 3, 2007, Saban was officially hired as Alabama’s next head football coach. It was the beginning of the best run in modern college football.

2009: Alabama climbs back to the top

The Crimson Tide went 7-6 in Saban’s first season and made a five-win leap in 2008. In 2009, Alabama gave the world a preview of what it was going to be like during Saban’s tenure, as the Tide capped a 14-0 season with a 37-21 win over Texas in the BCS title game.

Alabama allowed just 11.7 points per game that season, and its roster featured numerous future NFL players, such as RB Mark Ingram, WR Julio Jones, DB Kareem Jackson, DL Marcell Dareus, LB Dont’a Hightower and others. As soon as he came to Alabama, Saban showed that he could lure top talent to Tuscaloosa. And it didn’t take long for national championships to follow.

2011: Saban wins a third national title

Alabama went 10-3 in 2010 before an incredibly stacked defense propelled it to another national title in 2011. Alabama allowed just eight points per game all season, and its only loss came in a 9-6 slugfest against LSU on Nov. 5.

That game turned out to be a national title preview. Although the win gave LSU the SEC West title, Alabama didn’t lose another game all season and finished second in the BCS standings to the Tigers. The rankings produced the first all-SEC BCS title game — much to the dismay of college football fans across the country — and Alabama got revenge in the title game, with a dominant 21-0 win.

2012: Alabama goes back-to-back

The Crimson Tide followed their national title with another one. Only Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M were able to beat Alabama as the Crimson Tide went 11-1 and knocked off Georgia 32-28 in the SEC title game.

The SEC title put Alabama in the BCS title game against an overmatched Notre Dame team, and Alabama throttled Notre Dame 42-14.

2015: Alabama wins its fourth title under Saban

Alabama went two years without a national title following the 2012 season, as it finished 12-2 in 2013 and lost in the semifinals of the inaugural College Football Playoff to Ohio State at the end of the 2014 season.

The Crimson Tide were back in title-winning form in 2015 after a Week 3 loss to Ole Miss. Alabama won 12 consecutive games to end the season, as it beat Florida 29-15 in the SEC championship game and dominated Michigan State 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl.

That win over Michigan State set up Alabama’s first playoff meeting with Clemson, and a second-half decision by Saban will go down as one of his best in-game gambles. The choice to try a surprise onside kick early in the fourth quarter after tying the Tigers 24-24 led to a touchdown as Alabama scored 24 fourth-quarter points on the way to a 45-40 win.

2017: Alabama beats Georgia for another national title

Clemson got the better of Alabama at the end of the 2016 season, but the Crimson Tide made their third consecutive trip to the national title game at the end of the 2017 season, despite not winning the SEC West.

Alabama entered its season finale against Auburn at 11-0 but lost 26-14 to the Tigers. Even though Alabama didn’t play Georgia for the SEC title, the Tide got into the playoff as the No. 4 seed and easily beat Clemson 24-6 in the Sugar Bowl. That win over the Tigers set up a long-awaited meeting with Georgia, and the game did not disappoint.

Saban made another aggressive decision during a title game and replaced QB Jalen Hurts with Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa helped spark a sluggish Alabama offense in the second half, and he hit DeVonta Smith for one of the most iconic plays in College Football Playoff history as they connected on a 41-yard TD in overtime for a walk-off, 26-23 win.

2020: Saban seals seventh and final national title

The Crimson Tide made their fourth consecutive appearance in the national title game at the end of the 2018 season and entered yet another playoff matchup with Clemson at 14-0. But the Tigers were by far the better team in January 2019, and they beat Alabama 44-16.

In 2019, Alabama went 11-2 but couldn’t hold a candle to an LSU squad that went 15-0 and had the best offense in college football history.

A year later, Alabama showed just how unstoppable its offense could be in what was an odd year for college football and sports as a whole as the world navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. The Crimson Tide scored 48.5 points per game over the course of the 2020 season against a schedule that featured 11 games against SEC opponents before the College Football Playoff. QB Mac Jones set the single-season record for completion percentage at 77.36%, and Smith became the first wide receiver since Desmond Howard to win the Heisman Trophy, with an incredible season that included 1,862 total yards and 34 touchdowns.

Alabama’s closest game came in a 52-46 SEC championship win over Florida. No other team came within 17 points of the Tide. After beating Notre Dame 31-14 in the Rose Bowl, Alabama scored 28 second-quarter points on the way to a 52-24 win over Ohio State for its sixth national title in 12 seasons.

The win made Saban the head coach with the most national championships, breaking a tie with former Alabama coach Bear Bryant.

2024: Saban retires

On Wednesday, Saban shocked the college football world with his reported retirement. He finishes his career with a lifetime college head-coaching record of 292-71-1 and was 206-29 in his 17 years at Alabama. Saban’s teams won more than 80% of their games in his 28 years as a college head coach, and at Alabama, his win percentage was nearly 88%.