Nick Saban wins Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality, Emerging On-Air Talent

Nick Saban has added another trophy to his collection. The former Alabama coach won a Sports Emmy award for Outstanding Personality/Emerging On-Air talent, it was announced Tuesday.

This past season was Saban’s first as a crew member on ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show. Saban was previously the coach of the Crimson Tide from 2007-23, leading the team to six national championships. He also coached at LSU, Michigan State and Toledo in his career.

The other nominees for the award included Prime Video’s Ryan Fitzpatrick and Richard Sherman, ESPN’s Jason Kelce and CBS’ Jay Wright. But much like in his football career, Saban stood out against the competition.

In addition to working on College GameDay, Saban also helped out with NFL Draft coverage for ESPN. He is set to return to the network for the 2025 college football season with more experience under his belt and now an Emmy to show for it.

“I think the thing I enjoy most is it keeps me involved in the game, and you look at the game different,” Saban said during the season. “You know, when you’re coaching a team, you’re looking at everything through a straw. Your team and who you’re playing.”

“But being on College GameDay, for the first time in my life really, I’m seeing college football from 1,000 feet. Looking at all the teams. When I was coaching Alabama, I never knew what Nebraska was like, or Oregon, we didn’t play them. And it’s kind of fun and I like it.”

Nick Saban shoots down possibility of taking over Lee Corso’s mascot head tradition on ESPN College GameDay

In just one season, Nick Saban has already become a popular fixture on ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show on Saturday mornings. But as beloved GameDay icon Lee Corso prepares for his final show next season, Saban made it clear he’s not interested in replacing Corso — especially when it comes to his tradition of donning mascot heads.

“Lee Corso’s a phenomenal person, he’s a real professional, has been a part of the show and the tradition of the show for 20-something years. And we’re all going to miss him,” Saban said during a recent appearance on The Rick Burgess Show during last week’s Region Tradition Pro-Am. “I think it was a decision to do that, he’s going to be on one more show with us, which we all look forward to. But just a great guy and great for the game of college football and has been great for a lot of fans for a lot of years. I think the tradition of putting that mascot helmet on at the end of every show is something that everybody looked forward to.”

Just don’t expect the former Alabama coach to adopt that tradition any time soon. Unless, of course, ESPN forces the issue.

“Well, I hope not,” Saban said in response to Burgess asking if that’ll be his “job” moving forward, adding he doesn’t see Saban fitting into that particular role on the show. “I don’t either. But it’s probably not my decision.”

On3’s Alex Byington contributed to this report.