Did Nick Saban and Bill Belichick coach together? Exploring similarities between the two football titans

Two of the greatest coaches left their longtime teams this week, as Nick Saban retired as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide and the New England Patriots parted ways with Bill Belichick.

Saban is considered the greatest college football coach ever, while Belichick is arguably the best coach in NFL history.

Did Nick Saban and Bill Belichick coach together?

Nick Saban retired as head coach of Alabama

Nick Saban and Bill Belichick coached together, as well as coaching against one another.

Belichick was appointed as the Cleveland Browns' head coach in February 1991, after leading the New York Giants to another Super Bowl as their defensive coordinator.

After Belichick was hired, the first coach he hired was Nick Saban to be his defensive coordinator. Saban left being the head coach of Toledo to take the role on Belichick's staff.

“Nick was the first coach I hired and the best coach I hired,” Belichick told NFL Films in 2021. “Nick was really my No. 1 partner there, and I relied on him so heavily on every level. Yeah, I was the head coach at Cleveland, but whatever success we had, we wouldn’t have achieved without him.”

According to Nick Saban, he and other coaches worked 17- and 18-hour days and mentioned that being on Belichick's staff was one of the most difficult experiences, but he learned a lot while at it.

“It was one of the best experiences of my coaching career,” Saban told NFL Films. “It was one of the most difficult, but I learned a tremendous amount, and it’s really helped me probably more, as much as anything in my career.”

Saban ended up leaving Cleveland to take the head coaching job at Michigan State. Belichick, meanwhile, was fired after five seasons and got the head coaching role with the New England Patriots.

Not only did Saban and Belichick coach with each other, but the two coached against each other.

While Saban was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2005, Belichick was the coach of the New England Patriots. In the four meetings, the teams split the games, going 2-2.