"I only fired one guy" - Nick Saban reveals biggest regret of his coaching career on the Pat McAfee show
In the world of college football, coaches are essentially hired to be fired but that did not happen while Nick Saban was the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide had Saban coaching the program for 17 years and certainly had some incredible assistant coaches throughout his tenure.
While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban discussed one regret he had as a coach throughout his legendary career.
"I only fired one guy in the whole time I was a head coach. That was my fault, because I hired a guy to do a job that he really wasn't qualified to do. Does that make sense? The guy was like an offensive line coach and I hired him to be the special teams coach. That really what he was, and it didn't work out very well, but it wasn't his fault. It was my fault."
He went on to continue how he targeted coaches who had a diverse set of personalities on his coaching staff to relate to all of his players at the Crimson Tide.
While he did not name exactly which coach it was that he fired, Nick Saban seemingly has a great eye for dominating college football as he posted a 292-71-1 record throughout his coaching career, including seven national championships.
A look into the time Nick Saban was fired
Even though Nick Saban fired one coach as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide, he was fired as a college football coach before. At the time, he was a defensive backs coach with the Ohio State Buckeyes and was in his fourth stop in his college football coaching career.
He was let go after a 35-28 win in the 1981 Liberty Bowl over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Coach Earle Bruce took over as the lead man in Columbus for Woody Hayes and, as is typical with a new regime, Hayes let go of three defensive coaches, one being defensive coordinator Dennis Fryzel.
However, Saban was not happy with the decision and said that if Bruce was going to fire Fryzel, he would need to be fired too. He was not a name on the chopping block, but Bruce acquiesced to his wishes and fired him.