Nick Saban Admits He ‘Never Wanted To Be a Coach’ in Stunning Career Origin Reveal

Nick Saban is one of the most legendary college football coaches ever. He won two SEC titles and one national championship with the LSU Tigers before taking over at Alabama. He would go on to make the Crimson Tide one of the best programs in college football history, winning nine SEC championships and six national titles in his 16 seasons in Tuscaloosa.

It’s hard to imagine what college football history would look like without Saban’s influence, but in a recent interview, he revealed that he never planned on being a coach.

Nick Saban Opens Up About His Unexpected Path to a Legendary Coaching Career

College football today would not be college football without Nick Saban. He got his first head coaching job with Toledo in 1990, before taking over at Michigan State from 1995 to 1999.

He took the LSU job in 2000, and after a brief stint in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, he became Alabama’s head coach in 2007, where he coached the Crimson Tide until his retirement in 2023.

Saban’s impact on the game is legendary, but in a recent “Pure Athlete” podcast interview, he revealed that he never wanted to get into coaching.

“I never wanted to be a coach. I never grew up wanting to be a coach,” Saban said.

Saban played football and baseball for Kent State during his college years. After his final football season with the Golden Flashes, he planned to play his final season of baseball before graduating.

Saban explained that Kent State head football coach Don James offered him a graduate assistant role with the program and told him to quit baseball.

After some consideration, Saban finally agreed and took the job under James, but never thought it would amount to anything.

“I was a graduate assistant for a year, then I was a part-time assistant the next year, I got a master’s degree, and I just kept getting a better job. I was like 27 years old. I was the secondary coach at Ohio State, and I’m thinking, one of these days I’m going to get a real job.”

After his stint with the Buckeyes, Saban joined Navy as a defensive backs coach before finally becoming Michigan State’s defensive coordinator in 1983. Saban said that it wasn’t until the Spartans won the Rose Bowl in 1987 that he finally decided to stick with his coaching career.

“It wasn’t until I was a defensive coordinator at Michigan State, and I think it was 1987, that we won the Rose Bowl, we beat Southern Cal, we had the best defense in the country, and I was the defensive coordinator for George Pearlis, and I thought maybe I’ll be a head coach some day.”

Now, Saban is regarded as the best college football coach of all time, but it’s crazy to think that it was a career that he never thought about or cared for pursuing. If James didn’t convince Saban to become a graduate assistant at Kent State, who knows what college football would look like right now?