Nick Saban's Coaching Tree: Ranking The Best Saban Assistants Turned Head Coaches

January 18, 2024

Justin's ranking of the top coaches who are part of Nick Saban's coaching tree. Who is the best former Saban assistant?

With Nick Saban's college coaching career over, it's time to look back on his various achievements. Except in this case, it isn't his achievements we're looking at, but his former assistant coaches.

Saban's got a long coaching tree thanks to his many years around college football. Let's analyze which of those assistants turned head coaches had the best careers so far.

Below is the ranking of the top coaches off the Nick Saban coaching tree. I'm trying to only look at coaches who were with Saban before getting a head coaching job, or who were with Saban and used that to launch into a new job. Essentially, this is my way of saying that Bill O'Brien's not on this list.

Honorable Mentions

Before we get to the top 10 list, let's talk about some coaches who aren't on this list for various reasons.

First, there are the NFL coaches. This is a college-centric list, so there are a number of professional head coaches who worked under Saban at various points who aren't here because they're outside the scope of this article. Some of those coaches include Brian Daboll, Jason Garrett, Adam Gase, Mike Mularkey, Dan Quinn, and Pat Shurmur.

There's also Mel Tucker. Out of principle, I can't include him on this list, but I can't just ignore his presence.

10. Curt Cignetti

Curt Cignetti's first FBS head coaching stop was at James Madison, where he went 19-4 over two seasons before taking over the Indiana job this offseason. Previously, Cignetti spent time as a wide receivers coach for Saban at Alabama from 2007-2010 before beginning his head coaching career at Division II IUP. He has a chance to rocket up this list in future seasons.

9. Mike Locksley

Mike Locksley's first head coaching stop at New Mexico didn't go well, as he went 2-26 over his time there. But Locksley ended up taking the Saban Reclamation Path, i.e. he took a job with the Crimson Tide and parlayed that experience under Saban into another job. Locksley was an offensive assistant at Alabama from 2016-2018 before landing the Maryland job. He's taken the Terrapins to three seasons in a row over .500, winning a bowl game each campaign.

8. Billy Napier

Billy Napier was the wide receivers coach for Saban at Alabama from 2013-2016 before spending one season as the OC at Arizona State. From there, he took over the head coaching job at Louisiana, where he had a lot of success. Napier went 40-12 in four seasons with the Ragin' Cajuns. He'd be higher on this list if he'd sustained that success after moving to Florida, but Napier has had a rocky start down in Gainesville, going 11-14 in his first two seasons.

7. Mario Cristobal

After going 27-47 in six seasons at FIU, Mario Cristobal made his way to Alabama, where he served as offensive line coach for Saban. He was able to parlay that into an assistant job at Oregon, which turned into a head coaching position one year later. Cristobal found some good success with the Ducks, going 35-13 at the helm of the program, but his stock took a bit of a hit after he left Oregon for Miami in 2022. In two seasons as the head coach for the Hurricanes, Cristobal is just 12-13.

6. Dan Lanning

Alright, this one could be a stretch, as Dan Lanning didn't spend much time with Nick Saban. In 2015, he served as a graduate assistant for the Crimson Tide. His most notable stretch as an assistant came at Georgia from 2018-2021, where he worked under Kirby Smart, another former Saban assistant. Lanning has coached Oregon for the past two seasons, going 22-5 at the helm for the Ducks.

5. Steve Sarkisian

Steve Sarkisian had two middling Pac-12 stops as a head coach early in his career, going 34-28 at Washington and 12-6 at USC. He was dismissed from USC due to alcohol issues and landed at Alabama in 2016 as an offensive analyst. He later became the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons before returning to Saban at Bama in 2019 to take over as OC for the Tide. Sark now serves as the head coach at Texas. After losing 12 games in his first two years in Austin, Sarkisian led the Longhorns to a playoff appearance in 2023.

4. Lane Kiffin

Like many names on this list, Lane Kiffin was one of the Saban Reclamation Path coaches. Kiffin had head coaching stints at Tennessee and USC (plus with the Oakland Raiders) before he landed in Tuscaloosa in 2014. Kiffin spent three seasons with the team before departing for the head coaching position at Florida Atlantic, where he won double-digit games twice in three seasons. From there, Kiffin went to Ole Miss, where he's gone 34-15 over four seasons.

3. Mark Dantonio

Mark Dantonio's relationship with Nick Saban goes way back to Saban's days at Michigan State, with Dantonio serving as Saban's defensive backs coach from 1995-1999. In 2004, he got his first college head coaching job at Cincinnati, and then in 2007, he took the Michigan State job. Dantonio coached for 13 years in East Lansing, going 114-57 over his time there. His best season was in 2013 when the Spartans went 13-1 and won the Rose Bowl.

2. Jimbo Fisher

Jimbo Fisher started with Saban way back in his LSU days, serving as Saban's offensive coordinator from 2000-2004. He stuck around Baton Rouge for a couple of years after Saban left before landing as OC at Florida State, then was promoted to the head coaching job in 2010. In 2013, Fisher led the Seminoles to a national title. He later left the program for Texas A&M, where he never found the same level of success, though the Aggies went 9-1 in 2020.

1. Kirby Smart

And of course, we have Kirby Smart in the No. 1 spot here. Smart worked with Saban in three spots, beginning in 2004 at LSU and then joining him in his NFL stop with the Dolphins before spending 2007-2015 on the Alabama staff. He left for the Georgia job in 2016 and has found huge success with the Bulldogs. In eight seasons at Georgia, Smart's won two national titles and has lost just 16 games. Five of those came in his first season with the Bulldogs.

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