College GameDay will be held this Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The LSU Tigers will host the Alabama Crimson Tide for the Southeastern Conference rivals’ annual tussle. For the legendary Nick Saban, this is a return back to his former stomping grounds. Before he won six National Championships at Alabama, Saban was head coach of LSU. He won a National Championship with the Tigers during the 2003 season, a famed chaotic season in which LSU held the BCS title while Southern California had the top ranking in the Associated Press poll, awarding them a share of the championship.
It was a special place for Saban. It made things all the more intense every time he brought Alabama to Tiger Stadium.
ESPN’s Rece Davis, the host of College GameDay, spoke to a local reporter, Jack Schemmel of WBRZ, about what he felt the legendary Saban meant to the LSU program.
Nick Saban is back in Baton Rouge this weekend for @CollegeGameDay!
Here’s Rece Davis on experiencing this weekend with the former Alabama and LSU coach and what Saban means to LSU.@WBRZ #LSU#collegegameday pic.twitter.com/Tm3PRAWq0u— Jack Schemmel (@Jack_Schemmel27) November 8, 2024
“I don’t mean this disparagingly at all. He fixed this place,” Davis explained. “I grew up in the South. LSU? Never consistent. Could never sustain. For fifty years, it was a coaching graveyard. And he fixed it. And right there with the championships, is the fact that he built a foundation here that has been sustainable for other coaches.”
Davis clarified that the coaches that followed Saban — Les Miles, Ed Orgeron, and Brian Kelly — were all deserving coaches. But that Saban’s legacy and his impact helped make LSU what it is today. That’s a tough point to disagree with.
