The original article and list is from 2019 and outdated.
Even still imo CNS was already #1 but after 2020 it was definitely cemented.
Coach Bryant did build a foundation but that was eroded away after the Three Mikes and being on probation.
Our brand image was at an all time low after Shula.
CNS had to rebuild almost everything from scratch and dominated on both the Conference level and National Level.
6 Unanimous and Consensus NC’s at Bama where you either had to win a 1 vs 2 NCG or win a Playoff bracket consisting of the Top 4 teams plus another split title at LSU where he also had to build a foundation from nothing.
Imo if CNS stays at LSU he absolutely just dominates and wins just as much and especially when there is no telling who would be our HC instead of CNS. Our track record was bad for about 3-4 hires in a row so I’m going to guess CNS whips whoever it would have been.
I would argue Saban's accomplishment is substantially more than Bryant's for a few reasons (which should not be misconstrued into "haters gone hate Coach Bryant," whose picture adorned my wall many years ago.
1) Saban actually had to win his championships by beating the "second best team" in the country.
Look, it was the way it was, but three of Bryant's six titles were voted titles before the bowl games. And in two of those (1964 and 1973), his team lost the bowl game. Starting in 2003, Saban's national championships ALL required him to play one of the other best teams (and his last three titles required him to play TWO of the other best teams) to validate the championship. That's not to say Bryant COULD NOT have done it, but it doesn't change the fact that national championships are far more "earned" nowadays through on-the-field results than they were in Bryant's time.
2) Bryant won 4 of his 6 titles in the era of unlimited scholarships.
Technically, all six of Bryant's were under "almost" unlimited scholarships. Limitations began in 1973 and were further adopted in 1978, which is why the early 1980s saw more parity in almost all of the conferences (Iowa won the 1981 Big Ten title, Illinois won it in 1983 - this after literal decades of Ohio State and Michigan always winning it. Six different SEC teams won the conference in six years in the early 1980s as well).
Saban did not have that luxury. Again - everyone in Bryant's time had the same rules, and he deserves credit for knowing how to use the rules to his team's benefit. But it doesn't change the fact that the more stringent standards were imposed on Saban.
3) Saban's schedules were immensely more difficult than Bryant's, even in the regular season.
Again, this is not to impugn Bryant, it's just a hard fact of life. Alabama prior to the 1978 title was almost exclusively regional AS WAS THE ENTIRE SPORT. Alabama's out-of-conference schedules in the 1960s and well into the 1970s were ridiculously pathetic. Again - TV rights fees hadn't skyrocketed for college football, nor is it accurate to say "Alabama is skeered of good teams" like trolls argue. And to be fair, there were cultural and sociological realities in Bryant's scheduling - northern teams weren't going to play Southern teams due to segregation, and even if everything had turned on a dime overnight in 1965, schedules in those days were made ten years out. Bryant's out-of-conference scheduling got substantially tougher starting around 1977, when in one season we faced Nebraska and #1 USC on the road. But Saban's teams - starting 2008 - almost always played a blockbuster opponent in either week one or two.
4) The SEC was substantially more balanced, talented, and deep in Saban's era.
Quick, somebody tell me how many other SEC teams won national championships during Bryant's time at Alabama? And I mean ACTUAL titles from the AP or UPI, not some Post Cereal/Satellite Orbit Magazine title. LSU (1958) and maybe - MAYBE if you stretch the definition - Ole Miss (1962) with the FWAA. And then Georgia (1980) after he won his last one.
Saban's teams played the team that won the
previous year's national championship in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2020, and 2023. They knocked off the team ranked #1 in November or later in 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, and 2023. And during his time as an SEC coach, Florida, LSU, Auburn, and Georgia all won titles, Auburn came within 12 seconds of another one, and Mississippi State rose to #1 for five weeks. The SEC was so talented that on no less than three occasions in 11 years, we had an all-SEC national championship game.
Again, nobody is saying Bryant COULD NOT have done what Saban did, but the fact remains that one did it, the other did not.
5) Saban never had the downturn that marked Bryant's tenure of 1967-1970.
Saban had a three-loss season in 2010 that clearly as the years go by looked more and more like a scheduling fluke than anything else. Bryant had a rough go of it for four years. No, it wasn't even close to al his fault, but look at how almost every dynasty has a downturn of at least 2-3 years before reloading. Saban never had that issue.
Look, I could probably list 3 or 4 more achievements, but my purpose isn't to take Bryant down a peg. He himself would probably rate Saban's accomplishments ahead of his own.
The heartbreaker for us is that we COULD have had Bobby Bowden in the span of, say, 1987-2006, and who knows?
