Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.
An Alabama coaching search that lasted more than a month and included a series of wild twists and turns ended in a touchdown — literally.
Just before 4 p.m. on January 3, 2007, Nick Saban exited a private jet that had just touched down (get it?) at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport, along with wife Terry, daughter Kristen and Mal Moore, Alabama’s athletics director. Moore had been a one-man search committee charged with replacing Mike Shula, whom he’d fired on Nov. 26 after a 6-6 regular season and a 26-23 overall record that included a 1-7 mark against Tennessee and Auburn.
The prospect of landing Saban looked slim on more than one occasion during the 38-day search, but Moore ultimately got his man.
“When I set out on this search, I noted that I was seeking a coach who has a proven record of championship success and achievement,” Moore said in a statement issued on the day Saban was hired. “Coach Saban brings that proven record of accomplishment and leadership to our program.
“The hiring of Coach Saban signifies a new era of Crimson Tide football and affirms our commitment to provide our student-athletes and fans with a leader who will continue our commitment to excellence across the board.”
Saban succeeded on all counts, perhaps beyond even the most ardent Alabama fans’ wildest dreams. A national champion at LSU in 2003, he posted a record of 206-29 in 17 years with the Crimson Tide, securing six more national titles and eight SEC crowns, securing his legacy as the perhaps greatest coach in college football history.
Most who follow Alabama football remember the wild scene when Saban arrived at the airport on that overcast January day, with hundreds of fans on hand with one overly enthusiastic (and perhaps overserved) female fan planting a kiss on the coach’s cheek. In retrospect, the absolutely giddiness and optimism felt by many Crimson Tide fans that day appears to have been well-warranted.
How Alabama arrived at that moment, however, is a story unto itself. Though Saban was evidently at the top of Moore’s list from the moment of Shula’s firing, no one — including Moore himself — was sure if he could pull it off.
Saban had left LSU for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins at the end of the 2004 season, apparently believing at the time he’d accomplished all he set out to do at the college level and was ready for the challenging of winning at the game’s highest level. Though his first Dolphins team finished 9-7 and narrowly missed the playoffs, Miami stumbled to 6-10 in 2006 as Alabama began to court Saban.
