Nick Saban said he was not leaving the Miami Dolphins, but he left anyway. That was 2006, after his second year in Miami, and it became the last time he ever coached in the NFL. What came next was LSU, then Alabama, and a record few in college football can touch. Now, he’s spoken about what made him choose college over the big league.

Recently, while having a conversation with Theo Von, Saban was asked why he considers college football the best. His answer, however, was far more grounded than expected.

“A lot of positive gratification out of that. And I think that was the difference between being in the NFL and being in college. You know, I love the competition in the NFL. I love coaching the players. I love the strategy of the game and all that. But there was a lot more self-gratification in college about helping people,” said Saban in an interview with Theo Von.

Back then, he had just finished a 6-10 season with the Dolphins when a lucrative offer from Alabama came in. But not many could have known he’d go on to be with Alabama for nearly two decades and win six more National Championships, taking his tally to seven.

“Yeah, because they were at the right age where you could impact them. You know, 18 to 22, and they all still had goals and aspirations of what they were trying to accomplish. So, um, I think that’s why I ended up landing in college,” he further added in the YouTube clip.

After a successful stint with the Michigan State Spartans, Nick Saban was offered the chance to take over the LSU program. However, with LSU struggling at the time, Saban was hesitant to even visit the school, fearing that his interest in the job could draw backlash. His wife, Terry, ultimately made the trip herself and spent two days evaluating the program.

Despite being unimpressed by LSU’s rundown facilities and infrastructure, she noticed something that caught her attention: a roster filled with talented, promising, and athletic players. That glimpse of potential helped convince Saban that LSU might have more upside than it appeared to have on the surface.

He officially joined LSU in 2000, and from the moment he arrived, he made sure that when he eventually left, the Tigers would be self-sufficient. Saban flipped the script in Baton Rouge, delivering LSU’s first consensus national championship since 1958 in 2003 while compiling an impressive 48-16 record over five seasons.

Following the 2004 season, Saban closed the chapter on his LSU tenure and headed to the NFL, taking over as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He spent two seasons in Miami, posting a 15–17 regular-season record, before returning to college football, this time, not to LSU, but to Alabama.

“The self gratification that gave me is that I helped those guys fulfill their dreams when I was a college coach. That was important to me. That’s why I wanted to come back to college. My heart’s here. I love it here. I like to affect people,” said Saban after joining the Crimson Tide.

Years have passed, but his words and feelings about college football have seldom changed. While he certainly made sure to gain NFL experience, he later admitted that leaving LSU for the NFL was a mistake.

“When I left LSU, that was probably professionally the biggest mistake that I ever made,” Saban said back in 2025 during an episode of The Pivot with Ryan Clark. “Not because we didn’t have success in Miami, because I enjoyed coaching in Miami. But I found out in that experience that I like coaching in college better because you could develop players — personally, academically, athletically and all that — a little more than in pro ball.”

College football made him the name he is today, and if his legacy is to be judged fairly, his college football record tells the story best.