ANALYSIS: Alabama's Nick Saban and 'the Process'

— -- With his win Monday night, Alabama’s Nick Saban tied the record for the head coach with the most college football championships.

The 66-year-old Saban now has six titles, the same as legendary Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. That accomplishment alone might put Saban in the pantheon of all-time great college coaches. But what makes it even more impressive is how quickly he has achieved this success. It took Bryant 21 years to win those six titles. Saban has already won five in just 11 years at Alabama (his first title came in 2003 when he was head coach at LSU). He has the salary to show for it, earning $11.1 million this year as the college game’s highest-paid coach.

The key to his success? Something he calls “the Process.”

In Monday night’s game, Alabama experienced a moment that would have deflated many teams. After tying the game in a dramatic comeback, Alabama had a chance to win with an easy field goal on the last play in regulation, But kicker Andy Pappanastos badly shanked the ball.

How did the Tide recover as the game went into the first overtime in a college championship? Saban told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt he saw his team “just play the next play.” That epitomizes Saban’s “Process”: a disciplined effort to eliminate “the mental clutter,” ignore results. and instead relentlessly and simply focus on the next task or next play.

“The Process” became Saban’s mantra in his second head coaching job at Michigan State where, starting in 1995, he turned the middling Spartans into contenders in the Big Ten Conference. Saban’s next stop was LSU, where he won his first national title in 2003. After an unsuccessful two-year stint coaching the Miami Dolphins in the NFL, he took the top job at Alabama in 2007.

The fabled Crimson Tide program had become mediocre at best, suffering through 15 years since its last championship that included losing seasons and a recruiting scandal that brought tough NCAA penalties. But just three years after taking the helm, Saban had the Tide on top of the college football world again, capping the 2009 season by defeating Texas in the championship game.

Since then, Saban has stayed on top with championships for his 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017 teams.

After Monday, Saban has not only restored Alabama to the glory of the Bear Bryant years, but may have surpassed that storied era.