Face the Facts: St. Nick is the best. Ever.

Photo Creds to www.wruf.com

A lot can be told about Nicholas Lou Saben Jr. In Tuscaloosa, he is a god. In a lot of other areas of America, he is the devil. But no matter what your opinion of Saban is, it should be recognized that Monday night's win over Clemson cements his status as the greatest college football coach to ever live.

Ever since Rutgers and Princeton played in the first collegiate football game back in 1869, there have been many great generals that have led their teams to greatness. As a die-hard Penn State fan, I will always look at Joe Paterno as an icon. But while Joe Pa is the most consistent football coach of all time, as he coached at the same school for over 62 years, he was only able to win two national titles. Saban has won 5 (four at Alabama, one at LSU in 2003). Notre Dame fans will always bow down to the immortal Knute Rockne, but his reign ended 85 years ago. College Football has become considerably more advanced ever since the Rock's plane went down in a Kansas wheat field.  The 7-7-2 defense is no longer a thing, and Rockne has long been surpassed as the gold standard in college coaching, even if some Irish fans seem to think he never left.

Getting into the present era, Ohio State's Urban Meyer, like Saban, has dominated during the past decade, and Meyer has 3 National Titles of his own. But 5 is > than 3, and Meyer will never be as good of a motivator as St. Nick, nor have his teams been as consistent (his Florida teams had some years of mediocrity ), so if I could hire any coach in America, I would consider Saban before Meyer. Saban's teams have either won National Titles or come pretty damn close, and Alabama has won 10+ games eight seasons in a row. While Meyer was coaching in the SEC, his overall record was 65-15. St. Nick is currently 100-18. So St. Nick only has 3 more losses at Alabama than Meyer had at Florida while coaching in 53 more games. While Meyer has done wonders in turning Ohio State around, his first two seasons were partly  a product of a pathetic Big 10 leaders division. Meyer is great, but Saban is better.

Now for the debate that has been the most prevalent over the past few days: Nick Saban vs. Paul "Bear" Bryant. There is no arguing that the Bear will always be the greatest folk hero in college football history, as his checkered suit, checkered hat, and overall aura probably won't ever be matched. Bryant is a greater legend, but I think Saban has cemented himself as the better coach.

People who long for the "good ol days" need to realize that college football is simply much harder than it was when the Bear was the king of the south. As far as statistics go, things are pretty even between Nick Saban  and Bear Bryant, as both have the same lifetime winning percentage at 76%. Saben will likely never catch Bryant's win total of 323. However, what Saban has accomplished in consideration of the times dwarfs what Bryant did.

This will give you an idea of how important bowl games were 40+ years ago. In 1973, Bryant's #1 ranked Tide took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl. The Tide lost the game by a score of 24-23 in what would normally be a crushing defeat. However, the blow was softened somewhat when Bama was awarded the National Championship in spite of the loss.

Nick Saban will never have a luxury where a bowl game does not matter, and Bear Bryant never had to coach in a conference championship game, didn't always have to play #2 in a bowl game when his team was #1, and never had to coach in a playoff. To win in college football is a harder task than it has ever been and the season is longer than it has ever been before (Saban's team played in 15 games this season, Bryant's played in, at most, 12 per year.) The Southeastern Conference, although currently in a bit of a downswing, has largely been much more difficult in Saban's regime than it was during the Bear's.

It's easy not to like Nick Saban. It's easier to admire Joe Paterno, Knute Rockne, Bear Bryant, Lou Holtz etc. But Saban is a better coach than all of them. He has dominated a time that is harder to govern than any other, and as a result, he has proven more worthy of having this GOAT (greatest of all time) honor bestowed upon him than anybody else. And just think, if flukes such as the "Kick 6" at Auburn in 2013 never happened, Saben might have even more hardware than he has right now. I'm sure there are plenty of people in Alabama who will always see Bryant as the king of kings. While there is nothing wrong with having that opinion, those people need to realize that Saban has a shot surpass the Bear's total of six national titles (St. Nick needs two titles to do that overall, 3 to set the Alabama record). If I had to bet, I would say that Saban will retire with more than six national championships. I mean, what can't the guy do? If Saban wanted to fly a rocket to Mars, I would not doubt his ability to do so at this point.

Great coaches are great coaches, no matter what era they come from. But what Saban has done, considering what he has been up against, trumps all. It doesn't matter what you think of guys like Saban and Bill Belichick as people. I am not crazy of either one of them as men, but what they are as coaches are second to none. If these men are jerks, then let's give the jerks their due.