Nick Saban: A leader everyone wants and wants to be

When it comes to sports being great can come in many different ways. Scoring the most

points, being the best at defense, or even being the best passer or set-up man. But one thing about

sports is that some of the best people in sports don’t even touch the field, instead they are

wearing a microphone and holding a play call sheet. People like Nick Saban are people who have

left not only a lasting impact at the places he has coached but middle school, high school, college

and even NFL teams everywhere in the country. A guy who many people feared but also loved

and admired. In this paper we will go into why he was good leader through his early years, his

rise through the ranks and levels. We will also see his legacy on everyone but also on me and

what I try to emulate and hopefully learn from him.

Nick Saban Jr. was born October 31, 1951 in a small town in Northern West Virgina

called Fairmont. He grew playing football with his father as coach so hes had in house leadership

early on in life. Before his coaching days started he was a high school state winning quarterback

before he headed off to Kent State University to go to school for business and play football as

well. He would later on graduate with a degree in sports administration. While he and his wife

Terry, were finishing up college an uninterested Saban was put on Kent States football staff at

this time. He would end up liking this as a career path and choose this as a lifelong passion of

his.

When we look at the evolution of his very vast career on different levels we see the

amount of experience and leadership he has gotten from people and given to people as well.

Starting again with Kent State, Saban was on staff at Kent State from 1973 to 1976 where after

that he ended up on what people call the “Coaching Carousel” where he would jump from
assistant jobs at Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, The Navy, and Michigan State he would

make these jump from 1977 through 1987 as he went through this time. Nick Saban learned a lot

from each school although he did not stay at some of the school for long at all. He learned a

different type of adaptability from hopping from so many schools he was able to learn to pick up

on schemes, concepts, and coaching styles as he went through the school. Not only that but he

learned to become more process-oriented especially during his time at Ohio State and Michigan

State where he learned under two great head coaches and he was able to learn their “Process” in

which they display how they operate a football team. When go back and look at Saban in college

he played Defensive Back so he has always had a true interest on the defensive side of the ball.

So with him going to these different places he learns and hones in on his defensive expertise that

would later shape his notoriously great defensive teams. (Capstone Report, 2012, para. 3) “Saban

models this key to leadership in two ways. First, he is able to spot his own personal failings and,

second, he finds value in what others have to say about football …Saban’s ability to listen to

others and modify his way of doing things is a key to success” this is a skill that can be gifted to

some but is a skill that has to be mastered and he sure did have to learn it but many people today

consider Nick Saban to demonstrate Charismatic Leadership. All of this “school hopping” was

what made Saban the coach he as known for down the road at places like LSU and Alabama.

After 1987 he attempted to go back to Kent State for their head coaching job but passed up, so

instead took an NFL job with the Houston Oilers, this would be his first stint with the NFL but

not his last. After 1 year he would take his first FBS head coaching job at the University of

Toledo in Ohio in 1989, they would find immediate success in his 1 year there where he turned a

back-to-back 6-5 team into a 9-2 MAC conference championship team. Although he had a great

season Nick Saban could not pass up the opportunity to join the legendary coach of Bill
Belichick as his Defensive Coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. He would stay there four

years were he claimed it to be the worst of his life. He was such a mental drain as compared to

being in college. After those four years he would go back to the college environment and take on

the head coaching at Michigan State. Much like his previous stints he was able to turn his

programs around with simple but constant and effective methods which many people of his

coaching tree apply today. The first being that he was able to establish a winning culture for him

to be able do that he imprinted in his players mind that effort, preparation, and execution. But

that did not come with ups and downs. Saban at this time was still understanding players and

human nature still at this time In an article by McLain Moberg, Nick Saban reflects on the most

significant career lesson he learned during his tenure at Michigan State University (Moberg,

2024). Saban mentioned "I think you have a greater chance of losing a team when you're

transactional as a leader," Saban said. "Which is the way I was until 1998. In other words,

everything was about winning, or losing. And when we won I patted people on the back. But

when we didn't win, I was probably too harsh, didn't use it as a teaching moment and negative

experiences without teaching kills moral. Nick Saban would end up leaving Michigan State for

LSU but one of things no matter where he went or where he left he always did one thing that a

lot of people can agree upon Nick Saban, which was that you always left a place better than he

found whether that be teaching the players better or setting a huge example with his philosophy.

After going to LSU where he would go on to win a national championship in 2003 he would later

leave for his last stint in the NFL where he takes the head coaching job of the Miami Dolphins in

2005 he only lasted a year and would finish off his illustrious career with the University of

Alabama. This is where we would go on to win 6 more national titles 11 conference titles and
countless individual coaching and humanitarian awards. He would go on to retire from coaching

in 2023

As for Nick Saban post coaching? Oh still coaching football just from a different spot. He

is a broadcast analyst for ESPN college football. He loves football with his life and him getting

away completely would so hard for him. But as for a legacy you can ask somewhere around 40

coaches that were previously on his coaching staff or “Coaching Tree” that would go onto their

own great careers. He had taught all these coaches what true leadership was how to handle

adversity when it came to the players outside life, on the field, in the school, the NCAA, he

taught so many men how to go through a process and how lead into greatness. His type of

leadership of Transformational Leadership. Nick Saban wanted the people he hired to either

better than him or know that they can be better than him. For him to challenge the people he hire

he often lets them take control and allows them to mess up and or fix the problem that showed

(Thompson, 10.15., para. 3)

“While Saban is the best coach in football, he isn’t afraid to hire people with different

strengths than him. Saban shocked many last year when he hired outspoken Offensive

Coordinator Lane Kiffin. In many ways, Kiffin is everything Saban is not–outspoken, brash, etc.

Yet Saban respected Kiffin’s offensive mind and understood Kiffin had several strengths to bring

to the organization. It’s vital key people have similar core beliefs, but it’s equally useful for a

team to have a variety of strengths and weaknesses.” Nick Saban has inspired a new generation

of coaches that hope to lead as well as him and his legacy will last forever.

For myself Nick Saban is a inspiration based solely upon his ability to call people out and

make sure that they are on top their stuff, making people accountable without feeling bad is trait

that not many people can do. In fact he was so good he made people feel good about messing up
so they had a chance to make up for it. Its really a thing I want to master, not only for me but for

the people I want to help and lead.

At the end of the day Nick Saban is a man who I truly aspire to be not in football but in

life a man who grew up in a small town in West Virginia turned into one of the most influential

leaders in the country but just someone who pushed up to be great but also let you know that he

cared, and for a lot of people that all that matters.

• Thompson, K. A. (n.d.). Nick Saban leadership lessons. Kevin A. Thompson.

https://www.kevinathompson.com/nick-saban-leadership-lessons/

• Capstone Report. (2012, May 9). Alabama football: The leadership keys to Nick Saban’s

success. Capstone Report. https://capstonereport.com/2012/05/09/alabama-football-the-

leadership-keys-to-nick-sabans-success/16508/

• Burke, M. (2015, August 4). 9 leadership lessons from Nick Saban. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2015/08/04/9-leadership-lessons-from-nick-

saban/

• Cruickshank, C. (2024, October 24). The way Nick Saban and his team made the most

powerful system in football. End Zone Leadership.

https://endzoneleadership.com/gridiron-ceo-magazine/nick-saban/

• Millen, J. (n.d.). Nick Saban's leadership secrets. JohnMillen.com. Retrieved February

26, 2025, from https://www.johnmillen.com/blog/Nick-Sabans-Leadership-Secrets