He went through a championship season in 2017 without a bunch of linebackers and was forced to switch quarterbacks in the second half of the College Football Playoff title game; however, Nick Saban managed it all and was not awarded a national coaching honor.
After reshuffling his deck of assistant coaches, he returned this season with Alabama having the nation’s second-highest scoring offense (47.9 ppg) while carrying a nasty group defensively (14.8 ppg allowed).
Saban won his sixth Southeastern Conference title in defeating Georgia, 35-28, and has earned his fifth consecutive trip to the CFP as the No. 1 overall seed.
His recent coaching awards came in 2016 – SEC and George Munger Coach of the Year – nevertheless, national press could not deny him this year. According to the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the organization named Saban as its National Coach of the Year on Thursday.
Congrats @AlabamaFTBL Nick Saban – the 2018 @WalterCampFF Coach of the Year. 2nd time Saban has earned the award (2008) https://t.co/qYsE1le44k pic.twitter.com/iUDO1nrn7X
— Walter Camp Football (@WalterCampFF) December 20, 2018
It is the second time he’s earned the honor.
He won the award in 2008; his second season with a team that finished at 12-2. Saban has mentored a pair of unanimous All-Americans (Jonah Williams, Quinnen Williams), three consensus All-Americans (Tua Tagovailoa, Jerry Jeudy, Deionte Thompson), an Outland Trophy winner (Quinnen Williams), a Fred Biletnikoff Award winner (Jeudy) and a Heisman Trophy finalist in Tagovailoa for 2018.
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He has also reclaimed his title as the best recruiter in the country, as Alabama carries the top-ranked signing class for 2019. Of its 23 student-athletes that signed on Wednesday, the Tide has three five-stars, 19 four-stars and one three-star. Twenty of the program’s added players from the early signing period hail from the ESPN 300 recruiting data base, with Pierce Quick (four-star, OL) being the No. 4 prospect on the board.
Saban now prepares himself for his seventh national title run and sixth at Alabama.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
