Nick Saban Receives Bowden Coach of the Year Honors
By Josh Sanchez
Alabama Crimson TIde head coach Nick Saban is solidifying his spot as one of the greatest college football coaches in history after winning the past two BCS National Championships — his third with the team and fourth of his coaching career.
As one of the best coaches in college football history, Saban has been honored with an award named for another coaching great.
The Birmingham Touchdown Club named Saban the recipient of this year’s Bobby Bowden National Collegiate Coach of the Year award. The award has been handed out since 2009 and it is the third time Saban has won the award. The award is named after the Florida State coaching legend.
Other finalists for the award were Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin and Kansas State’s Bill Snyder.
.Saban accepted the award on Wednesday and had high praise for Bowden.
“This is a very special honor to me because it has Coach Bowden’s name on it,” Saban said. “”Everyone knows about his accomplishments as a coach on the field and we may not see that again in college football in terms of the success he had at one place for such a long period of time.
“More than anything else, receiving the Bobby Bowden Coach of the Year Award means a lot to me personally because of the man that he is, the person that he is, and the number of people he positively impacted and continues to positively influence today. He has always done it with such class and dignity in every way. As a coach, you hope maybe someday to be thought of in the way Coach Bowden is, not only in terms of what he accomplished, but the way he did it.”
Saban will now gear up and focus on next season as he prepares the Crimson Tide for a run at a three-peat. Alabama is loaded with talent once again and anything is possible when you have Saban coaching the team and AJ McCarron lining up under center.