Nick Saban’s coaching tree is less a tree than a full-blown forest.
A quick look around the current FBS landscape shows just how far his influence has spread: 16 active head coaches, down from 17, spent time working under him. The list stretches across the sport, from playoff contenders to programs still trying to get traction.
At Memphis, the head coach owns a 45-27 career record and spent two seasons at Alabama as associate head coach and running backs coach under Saban. At Georgia Tech, Key is 29-25 in his career and worked three seasons with Saban as Alabama’s offensive line coach.
At Ole Miss, Golding is in his first full year as head coach after four seasons at Alabama under Saban as defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach.
One coach revived his career with two years under Saban as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and he is now 55-22 at Texas.
Another rebuilt things with four seasons at Alabama as Saban’s associate head coach, offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He went 35-13 at Oregon after leaving and is now 43-19 at Miami, with the Hurricanes among the top CFP contenders this season.
Three seasons at Alabama as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach helped another coach get his career back on track. He later spent three years at Florida Atlantic, going 26-13, moved to Ole Miss where he was 55-19 and took the program to the CFP, and is now at LSU, where he is battling for another CFP return.
One current head coach spent a season under Saban as a graduate assistant and has since gone 54-11 at Oregon, where he has done just about everything except win a national title.
Another spent a season as Saban’s defensive backs coach at LSU, then nearly a decade with him at Alabama, first as associate head coach and defensive backs coach and later as defensive coordinator. That run helped him get to 124-22 at Georgia and win a pair of national titles.
The defending champ also came through Alabama, spending three years there as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Saban. He is 35-3 at Indiana, and the Hoosiers are chasing a third straight CFP berth.
There’s also the coach who rebooted after the Houston Texans job, spending two years as Saban’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before landing at Boston College, where he has been for the last three seasons.
After losing the Tennessee job, another coach spent three years as an offensive assistant under Saban and is now back in the chair at Arkansas State.
One current head coach started his career under Saban as a graduate assistant and now leads Western Michigan, where he is working toward a third straight bowl season.
Another had two stints with Saban, first as an offensive assistant and quarterback coach and later as an analyst. He is in his third season at South Alabama.
One coach had two Alabama stops as well, first as an analyst and later as wide receivers coach. He succeeded at Louisiana, struggled at Florida, and is now at James Madison in his first season there.
Another was already a grizzled veteran when he spent four seasons as assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach under Saban at Alabama. He now runs Jacksonville State.
There is also the coach who was a graduate assistant and then an analyst under Saban at Alabama. He took over at UAB in midseason 2025 and has been the head coach there since.
Mike Locksley would make it 17, but the recently fired Maryland boss is no longer in the group after being cut loose by the Terrapins.
In Other News...
Former Hoosiers Are Already Making Indiana's Roster Turnover Harder To Ignore
The roster churn around Indiana has already become impossible to miss, and the early part of the 2026-27 college basketball season is offering a reminder of just how much talent has moved on. Fourteen former Hoosiers who once held scholarship spots in Bloomington are now scattered across programs around the country, with several of them off to notable starts at their new schools. Among the names drawing attention are Aleksa Ristic at Belmont and Andrej Acimovic at Missouri State, both of whom are part of a long list of familiar faces now wearing different colors.
What makes the exodus feel even more pronounced is how recent some of it was. Seven of those players were on Indianas roster during the 2025-26 season, which means the turnover is not just a long-term trend but a very current one. For a program trying to settle into its next version, the sight of so many former scholarship players already contributing elsewhere is the kind of backdrop that keeps the conversation about roster building from going away anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Heads Into USC Week With One Huge Question Under Center
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Grant Wilsons involvement in the latest game only added to the uncertainty around the quarterback situation, and now all eyes turn to what Indiana looks like when it returns to Memorial Stadium in Bloomington for USC. The extra week off gives the staff time to sort through the options, but it also leaves one of the teams biggest issues hanging over the buildup to a pivotal conference matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas Big Ten Title Path Suddenly Looks More Real Than Expected
Indianas path in the Big Ten race has taken on a much more serious look than it did a few weeks ago. The Hoosiers are sitting third in the championship picture behind undefeated UCLA and alongside Ohio State, and the picture has tightened enough that ESPNs FPI now gives Indiana the second-best chance to win the conference, behind the Buckeyes and ahead of the Bruins.
A lot of what happens next still hinges on the final stretch of the schedule and on the quarterback situations around the league, especially with uncertainty hanging over both Indiana and Ohio State. The conference title math is in play now, and the tiebreaker procedures for reaching the Big Ten Championship game could end up mattering just as much as the results on the field. [Read more 🡒]