🐐 Saban vs. Belichick vs. Popovich: Who's the GOAT?
Which head coach has had the superior coaching career? Let's find out.
Wednesday night, Nick Saban announced he’s retiring.
Thursday morning, Bill Belichick announced he’s leaving the Pats.
My first thought: how’s Gregg Popovich feeling these days?
I don’t think Pop is going anywhere anytime soon despite his 6-30 record this season. He signed a reported five-year, $80 million in the offseason. A 7-foot-5 Frenchman with guard skills can have that kind of sway. But I gotta admit, I did wonder how much longer Popovich can go given that two other coach icons are stepping away. (I know Belichick isn’t necessarily done, but still).
Of course, here at The Finder, it got me thinking.
Which coach is the GOAT of modern-day GOATs: Saban, Belichick or Popovich?
Hmm…. I’m no football expert, but I do have some research chops and I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. After some consideration, I’ll weigh in and reveal my verdict at the bottom.
Look, cross-league comparisons are tricky. Cross-sport comparisons are even trickier.
But there are some top-level metrics that apply to all three coaches. I hadn’t seen anyone take a swing at stacking up the respective modern-day GOATs in their sport.
So I went to work. I pulled together their coaching résumé and put them side-by-side in some universal categories.
Some notes about the chart below: