Alabama Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban Named 2008 AP Coach of the Year

The Associated Press has selected Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban as the 2008 AP Coach of the Year. Saban was first in balloting with 32 votes, with Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach a distant second with 9 votes. Utah's Kyle Whittingham was third in voting with 6 and Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson came in fourth place with 5 votes.

Leading the Crimson Tide Turn-Around in 2008

The Alabama Crimson Tide's 2007 season hit its low point when Bama lost to Louisiana-Monroe. Despite this and a number of other tough losses, Coach Nick Saban was able to turn the negativity of the season into a positive for the 2008 season with focusing his team on defeating Colorado in the Independence bowl. The Tide finished the 2007 season 7-6 in Saban's first season. Saban's 2008 team went on to win their first 12 games in the 2008 season with only nine seniors that are under scholarship ion the team until dropping the SEC Title game to the Florida Gators. The Tide spent a lot of the 2008 season as the BCS and AP #1 team. An indicator of how well the season was going to go for the Tide was the season opening victory over the #9 ranked Clemson Tigers, 34-10 to kick the season off. Throughout the season, the Tide took down opponents that entered the season more highly touted than Alabama; from pre-season #1 Georgia, to LSU, and Auburn. Alabama achieved their first #1 ranking in over 25 years under Saban's guidance after defeating Georgia 41-30.

Coach Nick Saban's Second AP Coach of the Year Award

Coach Nick Saban's 2008 Ap Coach of the Year award is the second of his coaching career. Previously, Saban won the AP Coach of the year honors in 2003 when he was the head coach of the LSU Tigers. The Tide hired Saban to turn around the program prior to the 2007 season for a record $4 million USD. Although the contract was much criticized prior to the 2007 season, all Tide and SEC fans agree that Alabama could not have gotten any better results for its money with the Tide appearing in the upcoming Sugar Bowl against UTAH for only their second BCS bowl berth! Saban's successes shouldn't be contained to the 2008 season, however, as he has spun the turn-around of the Tide into signing the nation's number one recruiting class! Read more about Saban's Tide and other BCS bowl games in our BCS College Football bowl predictions here.