Nick Saban coached two forgettable seasons with the Miami Dolphins almost 20 years ago. But it’s a revisited “what could have been” hypothetical that some pundits and fans like to discuss.
On December 6, Saban was discussing it himself. The 7-time national champion head coach brought up his Dolphins tenure when he received a question about the Chicago Bears current opening while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show.
Saban suggested he has regrets over jumping into the NFL in December 2004.
“Having interviewed for a few NFL head coaching jobs in the past, OK, and I know you guys think that Chicago’s a beautiful city and all that, but if you take a job when you don’t have a roster … you got to look at the roster,” Saban said. “You gotta look at the salary cap. You gotta look at the quarterback situation, which the Bears have a good one.
“But I’m saying you have to take all those things into consideration, because if you don’t, you can end up in a no-win situation like I took the Miami Dolphins job.”
Saban continued, calling himself a “dumb ass” for accepting the Dolphins job.
In two years, Saban amassed a 15-17 record. He left for the Alabama head coaching job at the end of the 2006 season.
Saban led Alabama to the national championship three seasons later. He won six national championships in 17 years with the Crimson Tide.
Nick Saban Critical of His Coaching Situation With Dolphins
During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Saban seemed to be encouraging any aspiring head coach who will interview with the Bears to do the proper homework on the entire organization. He just took a very round about way to prove that point.
To make his point, Saban outlined the reasons why the situation in Miami he entered was something not conducive to success.
“We were $17 million over the cap, which was a lot back in those days. This is 20 years ago. We had the oldest team in the league. They’re 4-12. Got no quarterback, and I’m thinking, I’m gonna make it right. Well, we had a winning season first year, but we couldn’t get it turned around,” Saban said. “But there were so many obstacles and no draft picks because they gave them all away for Ricky Williams. So if you don’t do your research in taking an NFL job … is my point regardless of how pretty the city.”
Five different quarterbacks — Gus Frerotte, Sage Rosenfels, Joey Harrington, Daunte Culpepper and Cleo Lemon — started games during Saban’s two seasons.
However, one could argue Saban was part of the reason why the Dolphins didn’t have a franchise quarterback.
“If Saban wants to bemoan the fact the Dolphins didn’t have a quality quarterback on the roster, this is where we’ll point out he used the second overall pick in that 2005 draft on running back Ronnie Brown instead of a quarterback who went 24th overall, guy by the name of Aaron Rodgers,” wrote SI.com’s Alain Poupart.
Poupart also noted that Saban’s point about giving up draft picks for Ricky Williams wasn’t exactly accurate. Miami did trade draft picks for the running back, but those selections happened before Saban arrived.
Saban Calls Himself a Name
In Miami, Saban seemed to make the mistake a lot of head coaches do. He assumed he could fix issues with the Dolphins that previous coaches couldn’t.
He explained on The Pat McAfee Show, though, that he saw after two years that he wasn’t going to solve them.
“Yeah, I knew it,” he said on whether he knew if he had the right pieces to win in Miami. “I just had a bad case of the dumb ass,” said Saban.
“Wayne Huizenga was a great owner, and I thought this was a really good organization, and I thought we could get it fixed, and we got it moving in the right direction, but not being able to overcome the quarterback thing was the issue.”
It’s also possible that Saban, like many coaches, was more suited for the college game. He won 297 games and posted an .806 win percentage in 28 college seasons.
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