Saban started missing college coaching on 1st day with Dolphins
Alabama head coach Nick Saban abruptly left the Miami Dolphins in 2007 after just two seasons in 2007. A decade later, Saban can pinpoint when he started to miss the college level.
"Well, the day I landed in Miami and went to the first press conference," Saban said Thursday on his weekly radio show, according to Michael Casagrande of AL.com. "I started to realize the difference between the NFL then and what the NFL was like before when I was in it with Bill Belichick from 1991-94 in Cleveland, before we had free agency, before the media had infiltrated sorta everything that was happening. I guess right then."
Saban had coached LSU for five years, winning a national championship in 2003, before leaving for the NFL and the Dolphins in 2005. After a 15-17 record in two seasons and Miami's front office's reluctance to sign quarterback Drew Brees, Saban felt powerless.
"When that happened, I said, 'I can't control my destiny here,'" Saban said. "'I can't control my destiny here. There's too many things that, no matter how hard I work or no matter what I do, I can control my destiny better in college by working hard and making good choices and decisions and creating a good program for players.' I think that happening made me lean back to coming back to college."
Spurning the Dolphins turned out well for Saban, who's gone on to win four national championships in nine years with Alabama and has the Crimson Tide again ranked No. 1 at the midway point of year 10.
"It certainly worked out great, and we've been very happy here for 10 years," Saban said.