Nick Saban Comments On His Induction Into The LA Sports HOF, Says He Regrets Leaving LSU

It was announced this week that former LSU and current Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been inducted into The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Saban will be one of eight inductees, along with Ronnie Coleman, Lou Dunbar, Joe Horn, Kerry Kittles, Phil Robertson, Charles Tilman, and Angela Turner headed into the 2020 Hall class on Saturday, June 27, in Natchitoches, Louisianna.

Saban, who coached at LSU from 2000-04 and won the BCS National Championship with the Tigers in 2003, recently spoke about his time in Baton Rouge and said if he could do it over again, he would have never left LSU for the Miami Dolphins job. Per The Daily Advertiser:

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"I remember Richard Gill and Skip and I meeting in Skip's office," Saban said. "And I was really torn about it. And Skip said, 'You've just got to decide what you want your legacy to be. You want it to be as a college coach? Or do you want to try to make a name for yourself as a NFL coach?'

"And I really wanted to be a college coach, but I had it in the back of my mind all the time that the ultimate thing that you could accomplish in the profession was to be a head coach in the NFL. Don't ask me why. But that was just kind of there. And I thought, probably because of Wayne Huizenga (the late Dolphins' owner) that was the right one. He was a pretty good recruiter."

Saban soon realized he should have listened to the other recruiter, Bertman, as he was going 9-7 and 6-10 with the Dolphins.

"As it turns out, what I learned from that experience in hindsight was, it was a huge mistake to leave college football," Saban said. "And I know a lot of LSU fans think I left for whatever reasons, but I left because I wanted to be a pro coach, or thought I wanted to be a pro coach. We loved LSU. We worked hard to build the program. If there was one thing professionally that I would do over again, it would've been not to leave LSU." Read more.

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Saban also talked about his Hall of Fame induction during the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday: