Why did Nick Saban leave LSU?
Nick Saban had a successful program at LSU before eventually arriving at Alabama, but why did Nick Saban leave LSU when they were on top?
It’s one of the great “what ifs” in college football history: What if Nick Saban had stayed at LSU instead of leaving for the NFL?
We’ll never know if the future Hall of Fame head coach would have kept the Tigers a perennial juggernaut like he’s done with Alabama. The likelihood seems high. You just never know how things go.
One thing is for certain. Saban admits that leaving LSU was a mistake.
Nick Saban explains the reason to leave LSU for Miami Dolphins
Saban walked away from the Tigers in 2004, one season removed from leading them to a national championship. He had actually turned down the Chicago Bears after the 2003 title-winning season because he didn’t want to give up the connection with a series of stellar recruiting classes, according to USA Today.
However, he took the plunge in 2004, crediting the late Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga of being “a pretty good recruiter.”
In that same USA Today feature, Saban recalled a meeting with then-LSU athletic director Skip Bertman, who asked him what he wanted his legacy to be.
“I really wanted to be a college coach, but I had it in the back of my mind all the time that the ultimate thing that you could accomplish in the profession was to be a head coach in the NFL. Don’t ask me why. But that was just kind of there,” Saban said.
Nick Saban NFL coaching record with Miami Dolphins
So he took the job with the Dolphins and proceeded to go 15-17 in two seasons before realizing he’d made the wrong call chasing NFL glory.
Nick Saban admits leaving LSU for NFL was a mistake
“As it turns out, what I learned from that experience in hindsight was, it was a huge mistake to leave college football,” Saban said. “And I know a lot of LSU fans think I left for whatever reasons, but I left because I wanted to be a pro coach, or thought I wanted to be a pro coach. We loved LSU. We worked hard to build the program. If there was one thing professionally that I would do over again, it would’ve been not to leave LSU.”
LSU fans just wish he’d rectified that mistake by leading the Tigers to six national titles while building the greatest dynasty college football has ever seen. Instead, he did it with Alabama.
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