Any lingering SEC bitterness need not apply today when it comes to Nick Saban, who announced his retirement Wednesday after 17 seasons at Alabama.
His status among the college coaching legends is pretty clear, as Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert broke down on SportsTalk.
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"Obviously we got scorned so we call him Satan Saban and all kind of stuff, but no … the proof is in the pudding," Hebert said. "He’s the greatest college coach ever."
The Cajun Cannon, of course, was referring to Saban's decision to leave LSU in 2004 for an NFL job, which obviously didn't go as planned. He landed back at Alabama in 2007 and his legend only grew from there. In the end his record with the Crimson Tide was 201-29, to go with his 7 national titles, the first he which he won with LSU in 2003.
"The greatest college coach ever," Detillier agrees. "[he] went through all these changes throughout the college football world, still won at the highest level and so, man, you’ve got to tip your hat to him. You can like him, dislike him, the guy will go down in such a changing times as the greatest college football coach ever.”
The next questions will be who replaces Saban at Alabama, which will be a steep challenge, and also how it changes the SEC landscape. Georgia has already risen up in the past few years to challenge the Alabama hegemony, but does anyone else challenge for that mantle?
But one thing is for certain, as Hebert explained in the perfect way:
“A lot of people in the SEC, they’re gonna be saying now, ding, dong, the witch is dead, the witch is dead," he said. "Finally, because look what Saban has meant to Alabama.”
