Tale of the Coaching Tape: Nick Saban vs. Frank Broyles

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

Courtesy of the SEC

When he took over at Arkansas in 1957, Frank Broyles inherited a program with just five winning seasons over the previous 19 years.

He went 144-58-5 over the next 19 years with 10 bowl games and seven Southwest Conference titles (Note: He also went 5-4-1 one season at Missouri).

Although Broyles never had a team finish atop the Associated Press or coaches’ polls, Broyles came close numerous times including 1964, with a team that made a surprising 11-0 finish.

The key win was a showdown with reigning national champion Texas, which had not lost a regular-season game in four years.

It was decided by Ken Hatfield’s dramatic 81-yard punt return for a touchdown for a 14-13 victory.

Arkansas, which posted five shutouts that season, didn’t allow another point until the Cotton Bowl, where Bobby Burnett’s fourth-quarter 3-yard touchdown plunge capped an 80-yard drive to finish a 10-7 comeback victory against Nebraska.

Among those associated with the team were future football gurus Jimmy Johnson, Johnny Majors, Barry Switzer and Jerry Jones.

Nick Saban vs. Frank Broyles

(For consistency purposes, statistics through 2018 season)

Category Saban; Broyles

Seasons 23; 20

Consensus national titles 6; 0

Top five finishes 9; 6

Top 25 finishes 16; 17

Overall record 232-62-1*; 149-62-6

Percentage 78.5; 70.0

Losing seasons 0; 2

Bowl/CFP record 14-10; 4-6

Percentage 58.3; 40.0

Conference titles 9; 7

Conference record 138-42-1; 94-38-5

Consensus All-Americans 41; 6

First-round draft picks 34; 3

Record against ranked teams 82-40; 17-31

Percentage 67.20; 35.4

Record against top 10 teams 42-21; 10-23

Percentage 66.77; 30.3

Ratios/percentages

National title seasons One every 3.8 seasons; 0

Consensus All-Americans 1.78 every season; 0.30

First-round draft picks 1.48 every season; 0.15

Average wins vs. ranked teams 3.57 each season; 0.85

Wins over top-10 teams per year 1.82 every season; 0.5