25 biggest villains in college football history
By Brad Weiss
There are few coaches in the history of sports that are hated more than Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Perhaps it is because all he does is win, but he draws the ire of not only opposing fans, but of opposing coaches. Still, what he has done with the program at Alabama is legendary, and when all is said and done, he may go down as the best head coach in the history of college football.
Saban started his collegiate career with the Toledo Rockets, before moving on to Michigan State, and then to LSU, where he won his first national title with the Tigers. From there, Saban would enter the NFL ranks, as he was named the head coach of the Miami Dolphins for short stint. His final months as the Dolphins’ head coach were spent deflecting questions about whether he would take the Alabama job, which he continued to deny up until he actually took the job with the Crimson Tide.
That created haters for him in Miami, and once he took over at Alabama, all the winning made him quite the villain among his peers. At Vanderbilt, James Franklin called Saban “Nicky Satan,” while Tim Davis, a former assistant with the Tide said that Saban was the “devil himself.” Saban is a part of the Bill Belichick coaching tree, and like Belichick, he is considered a villain because he is the best at what he does.
As the head coach of Alabama, Saban is 114-19, an astonishing win-loss record to say the least. He also has won four national title with the team, giving him five overall, putting him in rarefied air. Every year, the Crimson Tide go into the college football season as a favorite to win it all, adding to Saban’s legacy as one of the most hated villains in the sport.