Tale of the Coaching Tape: Nick Saban vs. Eddie Robinson

Comparing the Alabama coach's numbers to the all-time greats on the 150th anniversary of college football

When it comes to coaching legends in the state of Louisiana, no one tops Eddie Robinson.

Robinson went 408-165-15 (70.7 winning percentage) during his phenomenal career, which spanned 56 years at Grambling, and saw more than 200 of his players go on to play professionally.

They included Hall of Famers like the Kansas City Chiefs' Buck Buchanan; the Oakland Raiders' Willie Brown; and the Houston Oilers' Charlie Joiner.

He also coached quarterback Doug Williams, Super Bowl XXII MVP with the Washington Redskins, who succeeded Robinson at Grambling.

Robinson won at least a share of 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships, nine black college national titles, and from 1960-86 posted 27 consecutive winning seasons.

The Football Writers Association of America named its annual coach of the year award after him, and Baton Rouge, home of Grambling’s biggest rival Southern, named a street in his honor.

Grambling coach of 56 years(!!) Eddie Robinson -- LEGEND -- with the mantra for when they wanna walk up with that BS. #FootbalIIsUs pic.twitter.com/50o5V78AjW

— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) August 25, 2019

When he retired in 1997, the College Football Hall of Fame waived the requirement that a coach be out of the game for at least three years before being considered for enshrinement.

This past May, Nick Saban traveled to Grambling and participated in the 100-year birthday celebrations for Robinson.

"When I was a young coach, I couldn't tell you when or where but it was one of those coaching clinics we have every year and I was just starting out in coaching," the Monroe News-Star quote Saban as saying. "I may have been 25, 27 years old and he spoke at one of these clinics we have. He talked about humility and how important it was in being successful in being a head coach and the things you need to do to be successful. He talked about never being satisfied and treating other people the right way.

"He embodied so much class in the way he spoke, carried himself. Sometimes you see people that way and you say, 'I want to be that way someday.' That's my first and probably greatest impression, lasting impression I have of coach Robinson.”

The Eddie Robinson Award is annually presented to “The nation’s most outstanding coach” by the Football Writers Association of America, and dates back to 1957 when Woody Hayes was the inaugural recipient.

Saban won the award in 2003 and 2008.

Eddie Robinson III honoring Nick Saban as an Eddie Robinson Legacy Keeper. @GSU_TIGERS @GramFanatics @AlabamaFTBL #GramFam #RollTide #EddieRob1000 pic.twitter.com/kgZhDeC4j6

— Cory Diaz (@ByCoryDiaz) May 7, 2019

Nick Saban vs. Eddie Robinson

(Statistics through 2018 season for consistency purposes)

Category Saban; Robinson

Seasons 23; 54

Consensus national titles 6; NA (9*)

Top five finishes 9; NA

Top 25 finishes 16; NA

Overall record 232–62–1; 408-165-15

Percentage 78.5; 70.7

Losing seasons 0; 8

Bowl record/CFP 140-10; 9-10*

Percentage 58.3; 47.4

Conference titles 9; 17

Conference record 138-42-1; 182-76-7*

Consensus All-Americans 41; 28*

First-round draft picks 34; 6

Record against ranked teams 82-40; NA

Percentage 67.20; NA

Record against top 10 teams 42-21; NA

Percentage 66.77; NA

Ratios/percentages

National title seasons One every 3.8 seasons; NA

Consensus All-Americans 1.78 every season; NA

First-round draft picks 1.48 every season; NA

Average wins vs. ranked teams 3.57 each season; NA

Wins over top-10 teams per year 1.82 every season; NA

* Grambling competes at the FCS level