Connect with us

Published

on

Nick Saban, one of college football’s coaching greats who won seven national championships and turned Alabama back into a national powerhouse that included six of those titles, has informed the Crimson Tide that he is retiring, sources told ESPN’s Chris Low on Wednesday.

Saban, 72, just completed his 17th season at Alabama, which ended in a loss to eventual national champion Michigan in the Rose Bowl. In 17 seasons, he won 201 games — tied with Vince Dooley (Georgia) for the second-most wins at a single school in SEC history, behind only Bear Bryant, who won 232 games in his 25 seasons with Alabama.

Under Bryant, Alabama reached dynastic heights, winning 13 SEC championships and six national titles. Saban returned the Crimson Tide to those heights, winning nine conference crowns and six more national championships.

In his 28 years as a college head coach — a career that included seven national titles, 12 conference championships (11 SEC, 1 MAC) and 19 bowl game wins — Saban never had a losing season. His worst seasons were in 1996 and 1998 at Michigan State (finished .500).

He made a two-year foray into the NFL with the Miami Dolphins before returning to college football to revive one of college football’s most storied programs, which hadn’t won a national title in 15 years. He won more games in 17 seasons at Alabama (201) than the Crimson Tide won in the 24 seasons between Bryant’s retirement and Saban’s hiring in 2007 (171).

Saban is 292-71-1 as a college head coach, ranking him sixth all-time in the FBS in wins, and 12th in NCAA college football history regardless of division. He led Toledo to a Mid-American Conference championship in 1990, his lone season as that program’s head coach. He then worked as Bill Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns for four seasons before becoming the first Michigan State coach to lead his first three teams to bowl games and then taking LSU to the 2003 national title.

But Alabama is where he cemented his status as one of college football’s greatest coaches.

Alabama has won at least 10 games in 16 straight seasons under Saban, the longest streak by any program in the AP Poll era (since 1936). This despite playing 107 games against AP-ranked teams during Saban’s tenure, 14 more than any other program.

He led the Crimson Tide to undefeated national championship seasons in both 2009 (14-0) and 2020 (13-0), the only head coach in the BCS/CFP era (since 1998) with multiple undefeated national championship seasons. His seven BCS/CFP national championship wins since 1998 are more than double the amount of any other head coach. Urban Meyer is next with three (Florida, Ohio State), followed by Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Clemson‘s Dabo Swinney with two each.

Under Saban, the Crimson Tide reached the College Football Playoff in eight of the 10 seasons in the CFP era.

He might have lasted just two season in the NFL, but Saban continued to coach NFL talent since coming to Alabama. The Crimson Tide had three players selected in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, which included the Tide’s first No. 1 overall pick in the Common Draft era (since 1967) in Bryce Young. Saban has had 49 players selected in the first round — including 44 at Alabama — the most of any coach in the Common Draft era. He also coached Alabama’s first four Heisman Trophy winners.

Just as legendary as Saban’s coaching résumé is his coaching tree, as he helped launch or relaunch the head-coaching careers of Smart, Texas‘ Steve Sarkisian and Ole Miss‘ Lane Kiffin.

Under Saban, the Crimson Tide reached the College Football Playoff in eight of the 10 seasons in the CFP era. He finished just shy of the top in his final season, leading the Tide from a shaky start to an upset of then-No. 1 Georgia in the SEC championship game and back into the College Football Playoff before falling in overtime to Michigan in a semifinal game at the Rose Bowl.

Saban didn’t sound like a coach looking to give up the job any time soon, telling ESPN in November, “I’ve always said that if you’re thinking about retirement, you’re probably already retired, and I’m not there yet.”

With Saban retiring, Mark Stoops at Kentucky is now the longest-tenured SEC head coach (2013).

Alabama’s odds to win next season’s national championship moved from 6-1 to 8-1 at ESPN BET after Saban’s retirement was reported. The Crimson Tide have the third-shortest odds, behind Georgia and Ohio State.

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Panthers-Oilers finals rematch opens as toss-up

Published

on

By

Panthers-Oilers finals rematch opens as toss-up

Oddsmakers think the Stanley Cup Final rematch between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers is a toss-up.

ESPN BET on Thursday opened the Panthers and Oilers each at -110 after the matchup was set. The price was on the move Thursday night, with Edmonton emerging as the favorite at some books, but the odds remained close.

The Panthers outlasted the Oilers in seven games to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup last season. The opening price for this year’s finals suggests another competitive battle is in store.

Game 1 is Wednesday in Edmonton. The Oilers opened as -120 favorites to win Game 1.

Florida rolled over the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to reach its third straight Stanley Cup Final, while the Oilers finished off the Dallas Stars on Thursday in the Western Conference finals.

The Panthers began this season as the favorites to win the Stanley Cup and remained among the top tier of contenders all season. They are looking to become the 10th franchise in NHL history repeat at Stanley Cup champions.

The Oilers also were among the top Stanley Cup favorites all season at sportsbooks and attracted plenty of support from the betting public. Entering the playoffs, more bets had been placed — and more money wagered — on Edmonton to hoist the Cup than any other team at multiple sportsbooks. At DraftKings, approximately 21% of all bets placed on the sportsbooks’ odds to win the Stanley Cup were on the Oilers.

The Panthers beat the Oilers twice this season. Both games were decided by one goal.

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid is the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Award at -110, followed by Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky at +250 at ESPN BET.

Continue Reading

Sports

Stars’ DeBoer defends call to pull Oettinger early

Published

on

By

Stars' DeBoer defends call to pull Oettinger early

DALLAS — Jake Oettinger is one reason the Stars are in a championship window, yet his Game 5 performance Thursday night was instrumental in Dallas’ third straight Western Conference finals exit.

Oettinger allowed two goals on Edmonton‘s first two shots, leading Stars coach Peter DeBoer to pull his star goaltender, hoping it would spark a change. It did, as Dallas pulled within a goal twice only to watch its season end in a 6-3 loss to the Oilers.

“Any time you pull a goalie the reasoning is to always try and spark your group,” DeBoer said. “So that’s your No. 1 reason. We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead, and obviously, we’re in a 2-0 hole right away. I didn’t take that lightly, and I didn’t blame it all on Jake.

“But the reality is, if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton.”

Dallas’ downfall began when rookie forward Mavrik Bourque was called for high-sticking with 18:13 left in the first period. The Oilers needed less than a minute for Corey Perry to score on the man advantage for a 1-0 lead. Mattias Janmark then scored nearly five minutes later for a 2-0 lead.

The early deficit continued a trend for the Stars, who allowed the first goal in their past seven playoff games going back to Game 5 of their semifinal series against the Winnipeg Jets.

Casey DeSmith relieved Oettinger, who logged 7:09 in ice time in his second appearance this postseason. His first came in the Stars’ 4-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 of the quarterfinals, when he played 19:50.

DeSmith stopped the first two shots he faced, but the Oilers took a 3-0 lead on the third via Jeff Skinner, who entered the lineup after Zach Hyman suffered an injury in Game 4 that is expected to keep him out throughout the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

The Stars twice cut the deficit to one goal. Jason Robertson scored the first of his two goals with 8:20 left in the opening period before Roope Hintz scored on a power-play goal with 7:33 remaining in the second, trimming the lead to 3-2.

Oilers superstar captain Connor McDavid countered on a breakaway, maneuvering past Hintz and scoring for a 4-2 edge with 5:32 left in the second.

Robertson’s second goal just 38 seconds into the third brought it to within one again, but Evander Kane‘s attempt to throw a pass into the slot was redirected off Esa Lindell‘s skate and into the net for a 5-3 lead less than three minutes later.

That effectively ended the Stars’ comeback before Kasperi Kapanen‘s empty-netter pushed it to 6-3 with 11 seconds left.

“I don’t know the timing of it, but I think they scored pretty quickly both times,” Robertson said of the Stars coming within a goal. “It’s disappointing.”

Robertson was then asked about the message sent by DeBoer regarding the decision to pull Oettinger.

“We gotta step up,” he said. “It’s unacceptable for us to let him hang him out like that. The whole playoffs, he’s been our guy. The whole season. It’s unacceptable.”

Oettinger, who won more than 30 regular-season games for a fourth straight season, began last year’s Western Conference finals with a 2.08 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage through the first three games as the Stars took a 2-1 lead. But he then lost the next three games while posting a 3.09 GAA and a .847 save percentage with the Stars falling in Game 6 despite allowing only 10 shots on goal.

Dallas opened this series with a comeback 6-3 win as Oettinger gave up three goals on 24 shots. Game 4 was the only time this series in which his save percentage exceeded .900 (.935 after stopping 29 of 31 shots).

“So, it was to partly spark our team and wake them up,” DeBoer said. “And partly knowing [the] status quo had not been working, and that’s a pretty big sample size.”

Oettinger’s early exit adds to what will be an offseason of intrigue for a Stars team that has several financial decisions to make in what is expected to be an active offseason in the Western Conference.

PuckPedia projects the team will have a little more than $4.96 million remaining in cap space because it traded for Mikko Rantanen and signed him to an eight-year deal worth $12 million annually, in addition to the pay bumps players such as Wyatt Johnston and Oettinger will receive starting next season.

Dallas will have a seven-player class of unrestricted free agents led by captain Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene. Benn told ESPN in late March that he didn’t envision playing for any other team.

Along with reconfiguring parts of their roster, the Stars also will use the offseason to reconcile what it means to be the first team in NHL history to reach three straight conference finals and not advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

“The examples are endless in this league,” DeBoer said. “You know, the Washington Capitals, a decade of knocking on the door. You know, on and on. It’s a really, really hard league to win in. And when you get down to the end of the final four here, it gets exponentially tougher.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Oilers win West, book Cup rematch vs. Panthers

Published

on

By

Oilers win West, book Cup rematch vs. Panthers

DALLAS — Connor McDavid had the breakaway goal that swung the momentum back to the Edmonton Oilers, and their captain happily touched the trophy they got after wrapping up another Western Conference title.

McDavid got that big goal in the second period after an earlier assist, 40-year-old Corey Perry scored again and the Oilers are going to their second Stanley Cup Final in a row after beating the Dallas Stars 6-3 on Thursday night in Game 5 to wrap up the West finals.

When McDavid accepted the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, he gladly put his hands on it this time.

“It’s pretty obvious I think,” McDavid said about what was different from the end of last year’s West finals. “Don’t touch it last year; you don’t win. Touch it this year; hopefully we win.”

Edmonton scored on its first two shots and jumped ahead 3-0 in the first 8:07 on way to eliminating the Stars in the West finals for the second year in a row.

The Oilers get another rematch, against defending Stanley Cup champion Florida after their series last June went seven games after the Panthers had won the first three games. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Edmonton.

It’s the 12th rematch in Stanley Cup playoff history and the first since 2009 (Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings). Oddsmakers made the title odds a toss-up, with the Panthers and Oilers each listed at -110 to win the Cup on Thursday at ESPN BET.

Dallas was within a goal when Thomas Harley had a one-timer blocked by Mattias Ekholm, the Oilers defenseman playing for the first time this postseason. McDavid gathered the long ricochet well past center ice, stayed ahead of speedy Roope Hintz and beat goalie Casey DeSmith with 5:32 left in the second period.

“That’s a Connor McDavid kind of play and that’s just the player he is,” Perry said.

Mattias Janmark, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane and Kasperi Kapanen also scored for Edmonton, the last an empty-netter in the closing seconds. Leon Draisaitl and Jake Walman each had two assists.

Jason Robertson scored twice and Hintz had a goal for the Stars, who ended their season in the West finals for the third year in a row. Wyatt Johnston and Harley each had two assists.

“You’ve got to keep knocking on the door,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We chased every single game in this series and that’s a tough way to play hockey against that team. It was the story of the entire series, but the fourth goal, Connor’s goal … puck bounces into the neutral zone, he’s coming off the bench, he’s not missing that. It’s game over.”

DeSmith had taken over in net after starting goalie Jake Oettinger was pulled following Janmark’s goal that made it 2-0 only 7:09 into the game.

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner had 14 saves. DeSmith, who hadn’t played since April 26 in Game 1 of the first round against Colorado, stopped 17 of 20 shots.

Perry scored on a power play, assisted by McDavid and Draisaitl, only 2:31 in the game. His seven goals are the most by any player age 39 or older in a single postseason, and the 2007 Stanley Cup champion with Anaheim when he was 22 is now going to his fifth Final in the past six seasons.

That was McDavid’s 100th assist in 90 playoff games, making him the second-fastest player in NHL history to reach that mark. Wayne Gretzky had 100 assists in his first 70 playoff games, and no other player has reached the mark in fewer than 125 games.

Robertson scored a minute into the third period to get the Stars within a goal again. Kane then scored on a shot that went off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and past DeSmith.

Jeff Skinner, the 33-year-old forward who has played 1,078 regular-season games over 15 years with three teams, scored his first career postseason goal for the 3-0 lead. His playoff debut was in the first-round opener against Los Angeles on April 21, but he didn’t play again until Thursday, when the Oilers were without injured forwards Zach Hyman and Connor Brown.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Continue Reading

Trending