Nick Saban announces he's retiring as Alabama head coach

Alabama head coach Nick Saban, widely regarded to be one of the all-time greats in college football, announced on Wednesday's he'll be stepping down. 

Saban, 72, arrived at a bottomed-out Crimson Tide program in 2007 and within a few years had turned it into the winningest program of the 21st century – and one of the most successful of all time.

Alabama won six national titles during his tenure and had an astounding record of 201-29, with 11 of those losses coming in Saban's first four seasons. His teams finished unbeaten twice, never lost more than two games in a season since 2008 and finished in the AP Top 10 every year in that span.

"The University of Alabama has been a very special place to Terry and me," Saban said in a statement. "We have enjoyed every minute of our 17 years being the head coach at Alabama as well as becoming a part of the Tuscaloosa community. It is not just about how many games we won and lost, but it's about the legacy and how we went about it. We always tried to do it the right way. The goal was always to help players create more value for their future, be the best player they could be and be more successful in life because they were part of the program. Hopefully, we have done that, and we will always consider Alabama our home."

Saban arrived at Bama coming off a less successful tenure as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, whom he coached to a record of 15-17 over two seasons. In his first season in 2005, the Dolphins went 9-7, narrowly missing the playoffs after a slow start. But rumors about the Alabama job kept swelling during a 5-11 season in 2006, and shortly after a season-ending loss to the Colts, Saban agreed to go to Tuscaloosa.

Although Saban spent eight years as an NFL coach – including