Nick Saban may now be an ESPN “College GameDay” analyst, but the legendary coach will continue to be remembered for his Alabama tenure. ESPN just released “Saban,” a six-episode docuseries chronicling the coach’s career.
The series was just released on October 8, and it appears “Saban” is already a popular watch among college football fans. ESPN announced that “Saban” is putting up historic viewing numbers as the most-watched Original debut since 2022.
“The premiere of ‘Saban’ averaged 529K viewers on ESPN on Thursday, Oct. 8, making it the most-watched Original debut on ESPN since 2022 and third most-watched ESPN Original debut of all time,” ESPN detailed in an October 12, press release.
“‘Saban’ has also generated significant engagement across ESPN social platforms. Since August, content supporting the series has delivered 110M video views and 6.7M engagements.”
Fans can stream all six episodes of “Saban” via the ESPN app. ESPN will air the second episode on Thursday, October 15, at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Nick Saban on Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer: ‘This Is His Team’
Prior to Alabama’s loss to Georgia, Saban praised Bama head coach Kalen DeBoer during an appearance on “College GameDay.” Saban labeled Alabama as “his team,” referring to DeBoer.
“He has done a great job,” Saban said with DeBoer on the “College GameDay” set. “This is his team.”
DeBoer credited Saban for inheriting a team with great character.
“I’m blessed to be here and you just rattled off a lot of great people, great coaches, the best to ever do it, and great players,” DeBoer noted in the October 10, “GameDay” appearance.
“But the best thing is that the character of everyone around this program has made it easy to come in and just want to continue to build on the great tradition here.”
Nick Saban Still Serves as an Alabama Advisor
In addition to being an analyst on “College GameDay,” Saban still works as an advisor at Alabama and has an on-campus office. Over the offseason, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne discussed the transition from Saban to DeBoer.
“Expectations at Alabama are high,” Byrne said at the time, per The Athletic’s David Ubben. “That’s what you sign up for when you come to Alabama. That hasn’t changed.
“… Everybody’s going to face that as our world has changed, and so our extension with Coach DeBoer showed our commitment and belief in him, and that we really value stability at Alabama,” Bryne added.
“And that’s been the case with Coach Saban, obviously, forever, and we want that stability to continue with Coach DeBoer.”
Alabama now turns their attention to Tennessee as the Tide look to bounce back following a narrow loss versus Georgia. Bama is an 8.5-point favorite over Tennessee in the college football odds, per DraftKings.
As for Saban, fans can get a behind-the-scenes look at the coach’s tenure at Alabama thanks to the new ESPN series.
Nick Saban Career News Emerges Days Before Alabama-Tennessee Game