College Saban beat more than 50 applicants to win the head coaching job at
Case in February 1950, thanks to what the university's president called his "unusually sound knowledge of football" and his "leadership qualities". Saban "possesses the sort of personality and character that is of great value in work with young men", the president said. By 1951, he was already under consideration for coaching jobs at bigger schools, including Indiana University and
Toledo University, where he was mentioned as a "dark horse" candidate to replace former Browns teammate
Don Greenwood. His
Case teams compiled a 10–14–1 record during his tenure as head coach from 1950 to 1952. Saban resigned in March 1953 to become an assistant at the
University of Washington under head coach
John Cherberg. In February 1955, Saban was promoted to head coach at Northwestern, succeeding
Bob Voigts and becoming the youngest coach in the
Big Ten Conference at 33 years old. Saban hired
George Steinbrenner as one of his assistant coaches. Saban's tenure as coach of the
Northwestern Wildcats football team, however, was brief and unsuccessful. Hampered by injuries, the team lost all of its games in 1955, and calls intensified for Saban's firing as the season wore on. In December, Saban and his entire staff were fired by new athletic director
Stu Holcomb.
Ara Parseghian was named as his replacement. Saban moved on to a job as head coach at
Western Illinois University in 1957, where he quickly built up a successful team. The
Western Illinois Leathernecks finished with a record of 6–1–1 in 1958, followed by an undefeated 9–0 season in 1959, when Saban also served as an assistant under Otto Graham in the
College All-Star Game. Having built up a 20–5–1 record over three seasons as coach, Saban drew interest from the professional ranks, and the
Boston Patriots of the newly formed
American Football League (AFL) hired him as head coach before the circuit's inaugural season in 1960.
Professional Led by quarterback
Butch Songin, Saban's Patriots posted a 5–9 record in their
first season. The following April, Saban brought in quarterback
Babe Parilli, who formerly played for the Browns and
Green Bay Packers, as a backup in the AFL's biggest-ever trade at the time. Five games into the
1961 season, however, with the Patriots at 2–3, Saban was fired and replaced by assistant
Mike Holovak. Patriots owner
Billy Sullivan said the decision was made by a majority vote of the team's board of directors, who "just simply felt all the talent on our team had not been used and felt Mike was the man who would be able to use the talent we had to the extent that it is capable of performing." In January
1962, Saban was named the coach of the
Buffalo Bills, another AFL team, signing a one-year contract worth $20,000 ($ in dollars). The Bills had a 7–6–1 record in Saban's first season and came in third in the AFL's eastern division behind the
Houston Oilers and the Patriots.
Cookie Gilchrist, a
running back who signed with the Bills after nine years in the
Canadian Football League, won most valuable player honors that year and recorded the AFL's first 1,000-yard rushing season. Saban also acquired
Jack Kemp, a quarterback, from the
San Diego Chargers, who had put him out on waivers while he recovered from a finger injury. Sportswriter Randy Schultz called it one of the biggest bargains in professional football history. The Bills posted a 7–6–1 record again in
1963, but this time it was enough to tie with the Patriots for the best record in the eastern division. This set up the AFL's first-ever playoff game to decide which of the teams would win the division and compete in the championship. The Bills lost the game, 26–8. The team won despite drama involving Gilchrist, who came into conflict with Saban frequently and asked to be traded on numerous occasions. The Bills released him on waivers in November 1964, but canceled the move when Gilchrist apologized. After the
1964 AFL championship win over the
Chargers, Saban was named the league's coach of the year. Gilchrist was traded to the
Denver Broncos in February
1965, but the Bills continued to win, ending with a 10–3–1 record and winning the AFL championship for the second year in a row. In the
1965 AFL championship game against the
Chargers, when offensive linemen Billy Shaw and Dave Behrman were injured, Saban inserted veteran
Ernie Warlick opposite rookie
Paul Costa in a double
tight end formation, which helped the Bills win the game, 23–0. Saban was named coach of the year for the second time in a row, silencing critics who had said he was indecisive, did not use his players properly and was not a good play-caller. On January 2, 1966, Saban unexpectedly departed from the Bills for the
University of Maryland. He said he was leaving because "there can be little left to conquer in professional football". Saban later stated that a variety of factors all came to play in deciding to leave, ranging from his satisfaction in having two great years to believing the Maryland job would be best for his family over the grind of pro football. His record at Buffalo was 36–17–3. Saban, however, only stayed at Maryland for
one season in which the team posted a 4–6 record. He returned to professional football as coach of the AFL's Denver Broncos in December 1966, signing a 10-year contract with an annual salary of $50,000 ($ in dollars). He also acquired quarterback
Steve Tensi from the Chargers in August for first-round draft picks in 1968 and 1969. Denver won its first game, but proceeded to lose nine in a row and finish with a 3–11 record. The team improved only marginally in the ensuing years, posting losing records in
1968 and
1969. The AFL and
National Football League completed their
merger in
1970, but the Broncos continued to lose, posting a 5–8–1 record. He said resigning was "my responsibility to the team" and what while the club made progress, "my only regret is that we have not been able to give Denver a championship". Saban became well known for his intensity and occasional temper tantrums. A much-watched clip of him bemoaning to Denver line coach Whitey Dovell that "They're killin' me out there, Whitey, they're killin' me!" introduced Saban to a wider audience when it was aired by
NFL Films. Saban was named head coach of the Bills for a second time in late 1971. When he arrived, Buffalo was coming off a 1–13 season, although the team had players including
running back O. J. Simpson, who had run for 742 yards and five touchdowns that year. While the Bills had a 4–9–1 record, Simpson led the NFL in rushing yards in
1972. Under Saban, Simpson continued to improve in
1973, setting a single-game rushing record with 250 yards in the season opener against the
New England Patriots. He surpassed the single-season rushing record later in the year with more than 2,000 yards. Before Saban's arrival, Simpson had never rushed for more than 742 yards in a season. Simpson credited Saban with helping him reach his potential. "He saved my career", Simpson said in 1973, when he was named the NFL's most valuable player. "He promised me he'd give me the football and give me an offensive line, and he sure kept his word." The Bills had a 9–5 record that year but came in second in the
AFC East and missed the playoffs. Saban said after the game that the Steelers' offensive domination was the deciding factor. "I'm not sure how they did what they did against us, but they blew us out", he said. Saban was replaced by
Jim Ringo, who he had hired as an assistant in 1972.
Walt Patulski, the Bills' first overall draft pick in 1972, also held ill will toward Saban after Buffalo, believing that Saban tried to force his personality onto Patulski and that the effort effectively ruined his career; Patulski would never speak to Saban again after their respective times in Buffalo, despite multiple opportunities to do so.
Return to college ranks Following his resignation from the Bills, Saban took a post as athletic director at the
University of Cincinnati in November 1976. He resigned 19 days later, however, and took a job as the head coach at the
University of Miami, reportedly for a $375,000 salary ($ today). He had double-bypass
heart surgery at the
Cleveland Clinic in the summer of 1977, but recovered by the time Miami's season began later that year. When Saban came to Miami, the football team had won just five games in the previous two seasons. Saban instituted an extensive recruiting network to rebuild Miami's program, and was named the school's athletic director in early 1978. One of his recruits was quarterback
Jim Kelly, who starred at Miami and went on to a
Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Bills. Despite Miami's improvement in 1978, Saban departed the school amid controversy. That April, three freshman Miami players attacked a 22-year-old
Jewish man wearing a
yarmulke who was walking to religious services on campus. They threw the man, who worked at a campus gathering place for UM's Jewish community, into Lake Osceola at the center of campus. When Saban returned to campus a few days later, he was unaware the man was Jewish and reportedly said "Getting thrown in the lake? Sounds like fun to me." Miami's Jewish community complained, and despite numerous apologies, Saban offered to resign mid-season. Saban was convinced to remain through the end of the season, however, before leaving to coach at
Army. By the time Saban joined Army, he had developed a reputation as an itinerant coach, a "notorious job-hopper" who was nevertheless respected for rebuilding teams in poor condition. Saban said he wanted to stay at Army "until they put me out to pasture". He resigned in July 1980 after leading Army to a 2–8–1 record the previous season. Saban next worked for
George Steinbrenner, first in 1980 as an executive at Steinbrenner's
Tampa Bay Downs racetrack and the following year as president of the
New York Yankees of
Major League Baseball. He took the post as a favor to Steinbrenner, a close friend who had served on his coaching staff at Northwestern in 1955. At the end of 1982, Saban left the Yankees to take a job as head football coach at the
University of Central Florida (UCF), a
Division II school that aspired to move its program to the top of the college ranks. He took over a team that had gone 0–10 in 1982 and led the Knights to a 5–6 record in 1983. He resigned midway through the 1984 season with UCF's record at 1–6. Saban, by then 63 years old, said he had a meeting with school officials and felt he "had no part in their plans for the future". At UCF, Saban was playfully referred to as Lou "two point two" Saban because his average tenure as a coach was 2.2 years. Saban retired in 1985 to
Hendersonville, North Carolina. He left after two seasons and was appointed head football coach at
South Fork High School, a rival of Martin County that had a record of 1–9 the previous year. After just one season at South Fork, Saban resigned in March 1989 to take a job as head coach at
Georgetown High School in
Georgetown, South Carolina. Saban said he was there to have fun and enjoy life, and that his reputation as a coaching "nomad" bothered him. "I've had no chance but to continue on", he said. Saban was hired in 1990 to coach the Middle Georgia Heat Wave, a semipro team in
Macon, Georgia, but he left after just four games. Team officials said it was "not a firing", while Saban said there were differences in philosophy and it was "not a resignation." Saban next took a job in 1991 as head coach at
Peru State College in
Nebraska, compiling a 7–4 record. He resigned in January 1992 because of a new rule that required him to teach at the school, a responsibility he did not want to take on. Saban next signed on as an assistant with the
Tampa Bay Storm of the
Arena Football League. Two years later, he was named as the coach of the arena league's expansion
Milwaukee Mustangs but was fired after the team started 0–4. The team's general manager said he wanted to be competitive and thought the club "needed a change". In 1995, Saban was named the first head football coach at
SUNY Canton, a two-year college where he stayed for six seasons. His Canton team was an immediate success, posting a 7–0 record in 1995 and a 34–16 overall record during Saban's time as coach. He compiled a 2–13 record at Chowan between 2001 and 2002. ==Personal life==