The last time Nick Saban was showered with national coaching honors was in 2008.
He was trying to get the University of Alabama back to where it once stood in football under coaches like Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul Bryant and Eugene “Gene” Stallings.
In doing so, national media saw his climb and honored him with five coaching awards – including Southeastern Conference, Associated Press, Sporting News and Eddie Robinson Coach the Year awards. Now that he has won five of the last nine national championships, it has become more of an expectation and less shock value to see Saban win.