Nick Saban’s 14 Former Assistants Now Coaching FBS Teams

The legendary Nick Saban retired at age 72 in January after 28 seasons as a college football head coach at four schools. It ended a remarkable career in which he won seven national championships (six at Alabama, one at LSU) and 11 SEC championships (9 at Alabama, 2 at LSU) in a league that has had five schools combine for 13 national titles in the last 18 years.

Now as an ESPN analyst for College GameDay, his coaching legacy lives on through almost 40 of his college assistants and analysts who became college and NFL head coaches. He currently has 14 former staffers who are currently FBS (Division 1-A) coaches. Eleven of those coaches won at least one national championship ring under Saban at Alabama.

Nine are now head coaches at Power 4 Conference schools, including four in the SEC, three in the ACC and two in the Big 12. Here they are in order of their most recent head coaching hiring:

Kirby Smart, Georgia (hired in 2016, won back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022)

Worked for Saban: 11 years with 1 at LSU (2004) as defensive backs coach, 1 with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins (2006) as safeties coach and 9 at Alabama (2007-15) with the last 8 as defensive coordinator.

Smart on Saban: “The single greatest thing I learned from Coach Saban is just the level of commitment to the organization, holding everybody in the organization to a standard that he kind of embraced himself. He never asked anybody in the organization to work any harder than he did.

“Nick was very impactful for my career, but every meeting I ever sat in with him, on his staff or as a head coach. He was always in pursuit of what was best for the student-athletes.”

Mike Locksley, Maryland (hired in 2019)

Worked for Saban: 3 years at Alabama, 1 (2016) as offensive analyst, 1 (2017) as receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator, 1 (2018) as offensive coordinator.

Locksley on Saban: “I came in with the idea of wanting to see or get behind the curtain of the Alabama football program, look and see the consistency of how this place has won, and how Coach (Saban) has been able to adapt and change and improve as a coach. It’s like taking a sabbatical and going to study and become better.

“The biggest thing I learned from him is just his work ethic and how he’s consistently always looking to improve and not real big on complacency. His attention to detail is unbelievable. Every piece of that program, you can feel his impact on it.”

Jim McElwain, Central Michigan (hired in 2019)

Worked for Saban: 4 years at Alabama (2008-11) as offensive coordinator.

McElwain on Saban: “For him to take a chance on an unknown guy from out west to come run his offense and be a part of one of the best organizations; from that standpoint, I owe him everything. I learned under one of the greatest, to see how the organization is built, not just the X’s and O’s, but what goes into the nuts and bolts that make it a success. He’s been a guy that’s always been there for me as a resource. Having that relationship is something I’ll cherish forever. To have a guy that you can pick up the phone and get an answer that has that much experience and credibility, man, that’s something special.”

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss (hired in 2020)

Worked for Saban: 3 years (2014-16) as Alabama’s offensive coordinator.

Kiffin on Saban: “In a lot of ways, he’s conservative and old school, but he always evolved. That’s why he was so good for so long. Old-school coaches usually aren’t willing to change, to take a risk. He did that with me, did that changing the offensive structure to RPO and tempo stuff that he didn’t like before.

“He took a chance on me when a lot of people wouldn’t because it was controversial. What I learned from him is all over our program now, whether it’s coaches I’ve hired, former players I’ve hired or process over outcome.”

Kiffin worked with Saban after his tenure at USC, which lasted from 2010-2013.

Steve Sarkisian, Texas (hired in 2021)

Worked for Saban: 3 seasons at Alabama with 1 (2016) as an offensive analyst and interim offensive coordinator, 2 (2020-21) as offensive coordinator.

Sarkisian on Saban: “He believed in me at a time when I was having a hard time even getting an interview. Coach Saban offers guys like myself an opportunity to come into his program, learn, develop as coaches. He’s a tremendous mentor, and if you allow yourself to be mentored, I think you gain even more out of the experience. I tried to be a sponge with him and why he goes about what he does, some of the decisions he made.”

Charles Huff, Marshall (hired in 2021)

Worked for Saban: Two years at Alabama (2019-20) as assistant head coach/running backs coach.

Huff on Saban: “You see other coaches change when they win games or change when they lose, you see other coaches change when recruiting doesn’t go the right way or change when it does go the right way. Then you work with Coach Saban and you think, ‘Wow, we just won the national championship and he’s got the same demeanor as he did when we were 10-2 a year ago.’ You realize that’s the difference.”

Butch Jones, Arkansas State (hired in 2021)

Worked for Saban: 2 years at Alabama (2018-19) as an offensive analyst.

Jones on Saban: “When you bring up Nick Saban, you’re talking to probably his biggest fan. To be able to experience Alabama football, to be able to experience what Coach Saban has built there and the expectations and how you manage everything, it’s a great way to step back and look at everything.

“I would evaluate the offense at practice, give Coach Saban a report every single day, broken down. I had a lot of head coaching responsibilities when it came to the (players’) leadership group. It’s really just taking things off (Saban’s) plate. You’ve got to be a free thinker, you have to run on your own gas and think like a head coach.”

Dan Lanning, Oregon (hired in 2022)

Worked for Saban: 1 year (2015) at Alabama as a graduate assistant.

Lanning on Saban: “Something I appreciate and learned from him that whenever you get your opportunity, you’ve got to be you. But you’ve got to be the definition of consistency if you want to last in this profession.

“There are a lot of people that have come from (Saban’s coaching) tree. I feel like the ones that maybe haven’t had as much success, they tried to be Nick. You know, Nick was Nick. You know, Nick, Coach Saban was himself every day.”

Mario Cristobal, Miami (Hired in 2022)

Worked for Saban: 4 years (2013-16) at Alabama as assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.

Cristobal on Saban: “When you go to Alabama, you essentially get your Ph.D. in certain parts of your coaching regimen and structure. He established the organization with the resources, a flow chart how it all works and ties in together. When you have an opportunity to be part of that culture and organization, you learn the ins and outs of everything. As the assistant head coach, the responsibilities that came with that allowed me to take a really deep dive into every aspect of how that program is run. It’s been extremely beneficial and helpful.”

Billy Napier, Florida (hired in 2022)

Worked for Saban: 5 years at Alabama including 1 (2011) as an offensive analyst and 4 (2013-16) as receivers coach.

Napier on Saban: “I was always grateful when I got there in 2011 after being let go as offensive coordinator at Clemson and kind of starting my career over. Coach created opportunities for me because of the things that I learned from him.

“I admired Coach’s consistency. He was unbelievable in his approach. He set the standard. He set the bar relative to the discipline, the work ethic, the focus, the ability to sustain.”

Brent Key, Georgia Tech (hired in 2023)

Worked for Saban: 3 years (2006-08) at Alabama as offensive line coach.

Key on Saban: “I worked for Nick Saban, and there are things you do differently than Nick would. No one can emulate one person. You have to be yourself and be true to who you are, number one, or these guys are going to see right through it. They’re constantly looking for fractures and cracks and things. You have to be true to who you are. You can’t be somebody else. You have to be genuine, and that’s what I want myself and the coaching staff to be all the time.”

Lance Taylor, Western Michigan (hired in 2023)

Worked for Saban: Two years at Alabama (2007-08) as a graduate assistant.

Taylor on Saban: “He is so detailed and methodical. He had such a track record of success. When he came in (to Alabama), you could tell he was just changing the culture. Every `I’ was dotted, every `t’ was crossed. He’s a relentless competitor, he’s a relentless recruiter. You knew it was just a matter of time before he had that thing up and rolling.

“They were always the most physical, well-disciplined well-coached team that you played against when he was at LSU. You knew you pretty much had to play a perfect game to have a chance to beat those guys.”

Curt Cignetti, Indiana (hired in 2024)

Worked for Saban: 4 years (2007-10) at Alabama as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator.

Cignetti on Saban: “When I went with Coach (Saban), I’d been coaching about 28 years at that point,” Cignetti said at his introductory IU press conference. “Learned more from him in year one about how to lead and run a program than the previous 27, I would say.

“Just everything from A to Z – monthly calendar, how to lead and manage people, how to avoid complacency, which he was so good at on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute, second-to-second count. How to practice, how to play and plan to win games, how to recruit, how to evaluate, how to staff or restaff every year.”

Major Applewhite, South Alabama (hired in 2024)

Worked for Saban: 3 years at Alabama, 1 (2007) as offensive coordinator, 2 (2019-20) years as an offensive analyst.

Applewhite on Saban: “He was different in ’07 than he was in 2019 when I got there. You wouldn’t think the greatest coach in college football history would seek counsel from others, but he does.

“Being patient and slow to make decisions, because those decisions have consequences and that’s what you do as a head coach, you make decisions. So you seek counsel and you listen and you trust and that’s the way you make great decisions.

“He became someone who was very low ego —and willing to listen and create the best opportunity and environment for his players to win championships.”