College Football odds: Nick Saban’s career from a sports betting perspective

Updated Jan. 11, 2024 11:33 p.m. ET

FOX Sports Research

Nick Saban shocked the sports world with the announcement of his retirement on Wednesday.

After winning seven national titles with two different schools, coaching four Heisman winners and collecting a countless number of other accolades, the 72-year-old closed the book on what is arguably the greatest coaching career in college football history.

Over the last 24 hours, the sports world has done a deep-dive into the numbers to demonstrate just how incredibly successful he was in 28 years as a college coach.

But what about from a gambling perspective?

Everyone knows Saban was the ultimate winner on the gridiron, but were his teams profitable to bet on? Did Alabama cover the spread more often than not? What about his time at LSU, Michigan State and even Toledo?

FOX Sports Research examined Saban’s career from a sports gambling perspective, both against the spread (ATS) and straight up (SU). Before we jump in, it should be mentioned that Alabama’s win total for the 2024 season was listed at 11 prior to his announcement — and has already fallen to 9.5 in a matter of 24 hours.

Note: The statistics and rankings below are reflective of available historical gambling data at FOX Sports Research. Additionally, to provide a more holistic overview of Saban’s numbers from a gambling perspective, totals below include five games which the NCAA removed from Saban’s record due to violations.

Saban has a cover percentage of 57.1% in his career, the third highest among all coaches with a minimum of 200 games coached since the FBS/FCS split in 1978 (Urban Meyer, Bill Snyder).
Saban recorded 198 covers in his career, the third most of any coach since the FBS/FCS split in 1978 (Mack Brown, Joe Paterno).
Saban was only an underdog 59 times out of the 359 games he coached in his career, going 34-24-1 ATS (58.6%) and 26-32-1 SU (44.8%) in those matchups.
Saban coached 235 games at Alabama and was only an underdog in 13 of those instances, going 7-5-1 ATS (58.3%) and 7-6 SU (53.8%). For perspective, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh has already been an underdog in 15 of 108 games coached for the Wolverines.
Saban was a favorite 292 times in his career, one of four coaches to be favorited 290 or more times since the 1978 FBS/FCS split (Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Mack Brown).

Saban went 164-123-5 ATS (57.1%) and 256-36 SU (87.7%) as a favorite in his career, the former being the highest cover rate of any coach with minimum 160 games coached as a favorite since the FBS/FCS split in 1978.
Saban went 90-66-5 ATS (57.7%) and 147-14 SU (91.3%) as a home favorite in his career, the former being the second-highest cover rate of any coach with minimum 100 games coached as a home favorite since the FBS/FCS split in 1979 (Bill Synder). His 147 wins as a home favorite is the second most of any coach in that span as well (Joe Paterno).
Saban was a true road favorite 90 times in his career, one of four coaches to be a true road favorite 90 or more times since the 1978 FBS/FCS split (Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Mack Brown). He went 49-41 ATS (54.4%) and 75-15 SU (83.3%) as a true road favorite, with the latter being the fifth most such wins of any coach since the FBS/FCS split in 1978 (Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Tom Osborne, Mack Brown).
Saban was only a home underdog 16 times out of 359 games he coached in his career, going 10-5-1 ATS (66.7%) and 8-8 SU (50%). During his tenure at Alabama, he was only a home underdog twice, with both instances coming in the 2007 season, his first year in Tuscaloosa.
Saban was a road underdog 29 times in his career and went 17-12 ATS (58.6%) and 11-17-1 SU (39.3%) in those situations. While at Alabama, he was only a road underdog three times, going 2-1 ATS and SU (66.7%).
Saban has only been a double-digit underdog eight times out of 359 games coached in his career, going 2-6 ATS and SU (25%) in those matchups. In his 17 seasons at Alabama, he was only a double-digit underdog once, coming in the SEC Championship Game in the 2008 season.
Saban has been a double-digit favorite 198 times in his career, the second-most of any coach since the FBS/FCS split in 1978 (Bobby Bowden). In those games, he went 114-80-4 ATS (58.8%) and 189-9 SU (95.5%), the former being the best cover rate of any coach with minimum 80 games coached as a double-digit favorite since the 1978 FBS/FCS split.

Saban has coached in 12 conference championship games, the only coach to make double-digit appearances in conference title games since the 1978 FBS/FCS split. He went 7-5 ATS (58.3%) and 11-1 SU (91.7%) in those games. He’s also the only coach to achieve double-digit wins in conference championship games in that span.
Saban has coached against 152 ranked opponents in his career, the most of any coach in college football history. In those games, he went 84-65-3 ATS (56.4%) and 104-48 SU (68.4%), the latter of which is the most wins against ranked opponents in the sport’s history.
Saban has coached in 10 national title games, six more than any coach in the BCS/CFP era (since 1998). In those games he went 5-5 ATS (50%) and 7-3 SU (70%).

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