Just when you thought the coaching carousel in college football was coming to a full and complete stop, a gigantic meteor hit the college football world on Wednesday evening. Alabama head coach Nick Saban reportedly has decided to retire, bringing a close to one of the best coaching careers in college football history. And with the retirement of Saban, one massive coaching job has just become available to fill.
Nick Saban was 2-3 against Penn State during his time as head coach at Michigan State. Penn State won the first two meetings with the Spartans with Saban in charge, but Michigan State blew the doors off the Nittany Lions in 1997 with a 49-14 victory. Penn State returned the favor the following year with a 51-28 victory at home, but Saban won the last matchup in the Land Grant Trophy series in 1999 before he moved on to become the next head coach at LSU in 2000. Saban left Michigan State on a high note with a 9-2 season that included wins over Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame.
Saban won the first of his seven national titles at LSU with the BCS championship in 2003. Success at LSU led to an opportunity to return to the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, but two years with the Dolphins led to a return to the SEC as the head coach of Alabama in 2007.
Saban coached Alabama against Penn State twice in a home-and-home series between the two schools in 2010 and 2011. Alabama was far too dominant for Penn State in those seasons and won 24-3 in Tuscaloosa in 2010 and 27-11 in Beaver Stadium in 2011, Saban’s last appearance in a Big Ten stadium. Saban’s all-time record against Penn State ended up being a winning one, by a slight margin of 4-3.
Saban will retire with a career record of 292-71-1 and a career bowl record of 19-12. Unless Saban has a change of heart, that means Joe Paterno’s career record 24 bowl victories remains safe for the foreseeable future.
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