5. Nick Saban, Alabama
Nick Saban is No. 5 on this list because he’s actually underpaid. He coaches in a state with no professional sports. No disrespect to Auburn, but Crimson Tide football is king in the state of Alabama. It’s the focal point of sports in the state, and Saban is the face of the program. Not only that he is the face of one of the marquee football programs of all time.
Saban is the best coach of his generation and arguably the greatest football coach of all time. He’s won in the most competitive era and in arguably the toughest conference in college football. You can say what you want, but the SEC is the best conference in college football and has been for a long time, and the numbers don’t lie.
Since 2000, two of the three schools — other than Alabama — that have won more than one national championship have been SEC teams. In addition, the SEC has had a losing bowl record once, and has finished in the top three 8 of 10 years since Saban has been head coach.
Then there’s recruiting.
Saban out-recruits in the most difficult time to recruit. In spite of this, Saban has had the No. 1 recruiting class eight times. Who has a more extensive coaching tree than “St. Nick”? Kirby Smart, Jeremy Pruitt, Will Muschamp, Jimbo Fisher and Lane Kiffin are some of the many names that Saban has either groomed or reformed to be head coaches.
Consider this final point: Alabama has been in the playoff every year since its inception in 2015, and in the title game four of five years, and the one year everyone said it didn’t deserve to be there, it won the national title. If he were paid like Dabo Swinney, he’d be No. 1 on this list.