Bill Belichick is happy he doesn’t have to coach against Nick Saban
By Jack Crosby
You can absolutely make the argument that, in the NFL and NCAA respectively, the two most dominant football coaches of this era have been Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots and Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Belichick is the owner of three Super Bowl trophies, while Saban has collected four national championships, three with Alabama and one with the LSU Tigers.
What’s even more interesting is that these two are basically one and the same in terms of coaching styles and their personalities. That’s why it should be no surprise that the two have remained good friends throughout the years:
"‘Yeah, I mean Nick, I’ve had as close a relationship with Nick professionally and personally through the years, even before when he was at Ohio State, when he was at Navy, when he was at Michigan State and then obviously the four years in Cleveland and Michigan State again and LSU and then at Miami — that was hard, for both of us because we had a great personal relationship but we’re trying to win, trying to beat each other.”"
Just as that last sentence alludes to, these two were actually in the same division in the National Football League at one point when Saban was briefly the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. In fact, Saban’s final NFL win was in 2006 against Belichick’s Patriots team, a 21-0 shutout.
That’s why it also shouldn’t come as a surprise that the dominant Belichick is a bit glad that he doesn’t have to coach against the man anymore that’s basically his mirror image:
"“I love that he’s at Alabama and he’s not in our division,” Belichick said. “He’s not shutting us out like he did the last time we played him down there in Miami. But it’s so much better that way on a personal level.”"