Speaking of which your Nate Oates is looking pretty good, lately! 
I hope that everyone truly appreciates how astounding this run has been.
I virtually know zero Alabama fans that pull for ND but you can also throw Ara Parsegian into the mix, his 1966 team that played Michigan St to the infamous 10- 10 tie cost Bryant the 1966 National Championship and then 1973 defeated an unbeaten Alabama team 24-23 in which Alabama was ranked #1 and had them backed up on their side of the field and Tom Clemens hit a lame duck pass to their TE on 3rd and 8 to secure the win, talking about an alcoholic induced coma that was the night.
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Leahy did not coach Notre Dame in 44-45 as he joined the Navy to fight in WWII. He still won 5 championships in a that decade (though the one in 46 was split with Army). That is Saban good. He retired early because that is what coaches did back then.IMO, the only coaches to approach Saban or Bryant status is Rockne and Leahy and their tenures were way too short to be included and some of Leahy's success was during the heavily diluted WWII years. We're aren't even talking about the Wade/McKay/Neyland/Hayes/Devaney/Yost/Wilkinson/Bierman/Warner/et al/ types, much less the Royal/Parseghian/Osborne/Meyer/Switzer/Bowden types. And just forget the Spurrier/Dooley/Swinney/Schembechler/Broyles/et all/ types, however much they might have meant to their programs.
IMO, there is no "might" to it - Saban is the GOAT, Bryant is also iconic and Rockne - IMO, no one else can lay a legitimate claim. Wade would come the closest because of putting both the South and ultimately the "greatest program" on the map but somehow, he doesn't quite get there. Of course, there is no bias here
FIFY (Leahy 4 in 11 years vs Saban 6 in 14 so far - in a far tougher world)
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Not good enough - Saban-Bryant-Denny Stadium or something else. Saban is inferior to no one in Bama's history. Three great epochs: Wade and Denny, Bryant, Saban. Thomas had a great run but not quite the same and he piggy-backed immediately off of Wade. In fact, I think it was Wade who recommended him. I think Thomas worked with Wade or at least observed Wade's last year of 1930 and 10-0 Rose Bowl and NC. The baseball stadium and football practice fields are named after him. LIttle if anything for Wade - I guess because of his exit. I think there has been a little bit of rectifying that in recent years.
