Tom Osborne vs. Nick Saban

Saban took over at LSU in 2000. This was following a 98' season where LSU had an impressive 4-7 record followed by an even more impressive 99' season record of 3-8. In year four, Saban wins a NC. When Saban took over at Bama, he took over a program that had been riddled with sanctions. In 2002, Bama received a five year probation; two year post season ban; and the loss of 21 scholarships over the next three years. All of the victories the two years before Saban at Bama were vacated because of other violations. The Bama situation was so bad that Dennis Franchione ran from a 10 year contract extension instead taking the A&M job.

A lot of people bag on Saban for not doing more or not winning a NC at Michigan State, but they fail to even see what he inherited. Michigan State hadn't had a winning season the previous five seasons before Saban took over. Michigan State was under sanctions before Saban took over. Saban has won a lot of NCs at places that weren't exactly great situations before he got there. Thus far, he's kept his programs out of trouble with the NCAA. The longer he coaches and the more NCs he wins the harder it will be to dispute he's the best.

 
Calling him the 'best' for me is super super relative due to the fact that again the guy has pretty had nothing but top 10 and top 5 recruiting classes at his disposal. It's the same reason that while I thought Phil Jackson was a good coach I never thought he was as 'guru like' as the media mostly had him portrayed after he won all of those championships with Jordan and co.

The sexy pick is Saban but when I think of him for me at least I'm definitely not thinking that he's the 'greatest' ever. When I really think of what he's done I immediately also think of the bevy of college talent as well as staff that he's had to work while he's been at Alabama. Other people can think of him as the greatest though if that's how they want to see him. Not myself.

 
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suh_fan93 said:
Calling him the 'best' for me is super super relative due to the fact that again the guy has pretty had nothing but top 10 and top 5 recruiting classes at his disposal. It's the same reason that while I thought Phil Jackson was a good coach I never thought he was as 'guru like' as the media mostly had him portrayed after he won all of those championships with Jordan and co.

The sexy pick is Saban but when I think of him for me at least I'm definitely not thinking that he's the 'greatest' ever. When I really think of what he's done I immediately also think of the bevy of college talent as well as staff that he's had to work while he's been at Alabama. Other people can think of him as the greatest though if that's how they want to see him. Not myself.
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Let's discredit Osborne's 97 championship then since he had top 10 recruiting classes in 95 and 96.

 
Let's also ignore the fact that Alabama and LSU was a mess before he got there. "He gets amazing recruiting classes only reason why he wins." Isn't that half of college coaching? Because kids were just begging to go to Alabama before he got there. Recruiting is a skill but no one will acknowledge that because God Forbid we be objective! Regardless, Osborne is top 3 of all time.

 
huskerfan333157 said:
suh_fan93 said:
Calling him the 'best' for me is super super relative due to the fact that again the guy has pretty had nothing but top 10 and top 5 recruiting classes at his disposal. It's the same reason that while I thought Phil Jackson was a good coach I never thought he was as 'guru like' as the media mostly had him portrayed after he won all of those championships with Jordan and co.

The sexy pick is Saban but when I think of him for me at least I'm definitely not thinking that he's the 'greatest' ever. When I really think of what he's done I immediately also think of the bevy of college talent as well as staff that he's had to work while he's been at Alabama. Other people can think of him as the greatest though if that's how they want to see him. Not myself.
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Let's discredit Osborne's 97 championship then since he had top 10 recruiting classes in 95 and 96.
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Ah. The ol' cherry picker stat. Emfinger and Lemming had us as having the 9th and 10th class in 96 as well as having the 3rd and 5th best class in 95. Wallace however had our 95 class ranked 10th. What has Saban been puling in these days?

In the past 5 years Alabama is ranked #1 as far as recruiting classes according to 247's composite rankings. Pretty sure Osborne came nowhere near classes like this.

Of course Alabama's No. 1 in 5-year recruiting rankings

 
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Which is apparently easier to do when you have a unlimited supply of Dodge Chargers to hand out. 😂

 
unlfan said:
Recruiting players is part of the job description of a college football coach, isn't it? Why in the world should Saban be discredited for getting #1 classes? That's part of his job.

Phil Jackson comparison doesn't work. 1) it wasn't his job or ability to draft MJ and 2) he had the best player ever for like a decade in a sport where 1 player can win you rings. In college football, you get guys for a few years (need to consistently recruit at elite level) and one player doesn't make that big of a difference.

Probably not popular around here, but Saban has passed TO on all time great list. Saban is probably already #1. That's no indictment of TO, what he did was amazing and still top 10 all time.
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Saban has not passed TO all time. All time pain in the neck maybe. Almost all he does is chew on folks and throw tantrums. I never saw TO do either. Saban has won a lot. But he is in a dream situation. The hosses down there are his to lose. TO flat out coached people. He won a national title when the other team (Miami) was unquestionably more stacked with talent. When has Saban won a title when the other team had more talent? Osborne just out coached them. Had his program in a better place. He out-offensed Steve Spurrier. He once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels. I think a lot of folks are just caught up in the moment.
 
BRV920 said:
B.B. Hemingway said:
BRV920 said:
dvdcrr said:
Nick went to LSU and Alabama to win championships.

Tom Osborne did it at Nebraska.

Think about that for a minute. Tom Osborne over decades had NU at the very top of the country in terms of respect, and for a magical three year run they were the BEST nearly undisputed among national writers. AT NEBRASKA. You could not even get Saban to walk through the door at Lincoln. Doesn't that say something?
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I'd actually say it was a 5 year run and both the Saban and Osborne would be in conversation for GOAT. Valid arguments for either can be made but I'd disagree with anyone saying Saban is clearly the better coach.
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I'd probably agree with you there, but accomplishments matter in these discussions. Over the last 8 years (including this year) Saban is 100-10, with 4 national titles in the last 7 years, and one win away from making it 5 in 8 years. That's insane, and incredibly hard to top.

Osborne did have 3 undefeated title seasons (one of those being the greatest CFB team of all-time), compared to Saban's 1, thus far....
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You could also say that Osborne was 3 crappy calls away from having 4 undefeated national championship teams in 5 years and a sick team away from playing for 5 in 5 years. All without the help of ESPN.
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very true and don't forget the crappy 1 yard out of bounds at PSU call in 82. He also would have had a NC 83 if he had gone for a tie vs the outright win.

 
Watching the video makes me think we should have had Heisman and Heisman runner up that year -

 
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