Saban, Belichick are the greatest coaches
Nick Saban and Bill Belichick were born 168 days and one state apart. Saban in Fairmont, West Virginia, on Halloween 1951, Belichick in Nashville in 1952.
When Saban graduated from Monongah High School, about 25 miles south of Morgantown, Bear Bryant had been the coach at Alabama for 11 seasons and already was a legend.
When Belichick graduated from high school in Annapolis, Maryland, Vince Lombardi had just completed his first and only season as the coach of the nearby Washington Redskins. Lombardi would be dead from cancer three months later but already was considered the greatest coach in NFL history, from his Packer days.
Now Saban is 66 and Belichick is 65. Time marches on.
So does football history. The most accomplished college football coach ever is in our midst. The most accomplished pro football coach ever is in our midst. Sorry, Bear. Sorry, Vince.
Saban last week coached Alabama to its fifth national title since 2009. Belichick in February coached the Patriots
to their fifth Super Bowl title since he signed on, and New England is a big favorite to win it again this winter.
But not all championships are created equal. Titles are harder to win than ever before, because of talent distribution and format and styles of play. Parity reigns. Except where Saban and Belichick are involved.
Take Saban. Each of his six national titles were won in title games. Don’t laugh. For most of college football history, that was not the case.
Saban’s 2003 LSU team beat Oklahoma for the title. His Alabama teams beat Texas (2009), LSU (2011), Notre Dame (2012), Clemson (2015) and Georgia (2017). Those last two were won after semifinal victories over Michigan State and Clemson, respectively. That’s eight postseason victories in elimination games.
Do you know how many virtual title games Bear Bryant won? Two.
Ohio State claims five titles under Woody Hayes. The Buckeyes won one virtual title game under Hayes.
Frank Leahy won four national titles at Notre Dame. He never coached a postseason game. John McKay won four national titles at Southern Cal. He never coached in a virtual national title game. Darrell Royal at Texas and Bud Wilkinson at OU won three each. They also never coached in a virtual national title game.
Barry Switzer won three national titles and coached in one national title game; his 1985 Sooners beat No. 1-ranked Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
It’s much easier to win national titles when you don’t have to play or you don’t have to play the best. Until 1965, national titles were awarded before the bowl games. And until the advent of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), no two-team playoff existed, so championship games became happenstance. From 1968, when the AP moved its poll to after the bowl games, through 1997, the last year before the BCS was added, only 14 bowl games matched the top two ranked teams.
Bear Bryant won titles in 1961, 1964 and 1973 (UPI) before the bowl games. His 1979 Bama team won the title by beating sixth-ranked Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.
Only in 1965 and 1978 did Bryant win winnertake-all title games. In ‘65, No. 1 Michigan State lost in the Rose Bowl and No. 2 Arkansas lost in the Cotton Bowl, making the Orange Bowl the de facto title game, with No. 4 Alabama beating No. 3 Nebraska. And in ’78, No. 2 Bama beat No. 1 Penn State in the Sugar Bowl. Even then, Southern Cal was No. 1 in the final UPI poll, having won the Rose Bowl and having beaten Alabama earlier in the season.
Compare that to Saban’s road. Make the playoff, either the twoteam playoff of 1998-2013 or the four-team playoff since. Then win once you get there.
It’s not close. Winning today is much more difficult. Winning in the Southeastern Conference is much more difficult, with more schools committed to football than in the Bear era. Hate Alabama and despise Saban, but you’ve got to give them their due. They have earned everything they’ve won.
And as for Belichick, well, the NFL is all about parity. Ten franchises have won the 13 most recent Super Bowls not won by New England. The Ravens, Giants and Steelers each have won two.
The Patriots have won five. In a league in which every team is pushed toward the middle, through draft slotting and payroll caps and unbalanced scheduling, Belichick has built a dynasty.
And he’s done it by winning games. Lombardi won five NFL titles. Even including the first two Super Bowls, which came after the NFL title games of 1966 and 1967, Lombardi won nine playoff games in those five seasons. Only three of those nine were away from Lambeau Field.
In Belichick’s five championship runs, the Patriots have won 15 playoff games. Seven away from Foxborough.
Lombardi won his two Super Bowls by 25 and 19 points, respectively. His pre-Super Bowl NFL titles games were won by 37, 9 and 11 points.
Belichick’s five Super Bowls have been won by a total of 14 points: 20-17 over the Rams, 32-29 over the Panthers, 24-21 over the Eagles, 28-24 over the Seahawks and 34-28 over the Falcons in overtime.
And Belichick has lost two epic Super Bowls against the Giants, 21-17 and 17-14.
The NFL of the 1960s was competitive, fierce competition. But the NFL of the 2000s literally is a game of inches. One play usually means the difference.
For one coach to rise above the fray and dominate in this culture is incredible. Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history. Just like Saban is in college.