Nick Saban Adds Another Trophy To His Collection: Emmy Award Winning Broadcaster

While he might have a room filled with trophies from his coaching days, Nick Saban added a different type of award to his collection on Tuesday night, taking home an Emmy Award for his role on College Gameday. 

The national championship-winning football coach made his transition from coaching to talking about what he was seeing from teams across college football as part of ESPN's College Gameday crew this past year. 

The Sports Emmy Awards are administered by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences / NATAS

After captivating audiences with his witty banter, it didn't take long for the viewers at home to start enjoying the legendary football coach. It was a side of Nick Saban we never saw. Whether it was going back and forth with Pat McAfee on the set, or poking fun at former assistant coaches who were now leading their own programs. 

The transition to television seemed like an easy one, though Saban would be the first to tell you that it was not an easy move to make. But, it paid off for ESPN, with the former coach bringing a different style to the Gameday set, which had viewers wanting to see more of this type of banter from the ball coach. 

During the 46th annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony, held in New York City, Nick Saban beat out NFL commentators Ryan Fitzpatrick, Richard Sherman and Jason Kelce, along with former Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright for the ‘Outstanding Personality/Emerging On-Air Talent’ award. 

While speaking at his charity golf event, Nick's Kids, on Tuesday afternoon, Saban joked about himself being included in the category this year. 

"Must have been not a good year for people in the Emmy's."

Well, it turns out that even with the tough competition, Nick Saban did enough in the eyes of voters to take home the award. And to be honest, he deserved it. 

Nick Saban Shocked Folks With His Witty Humor On College Gameday

If you are a college football fan, it was hard not to laugh at some of the moments Saban shared with his colleagues on the Gameday set this past season. Whether that was taking a bite out of a tomahawk steak from Pat McAfee, dressing up like a Nittany Lion, cracking jokes with Deion Sanders about their fishing trips or delivering a fantastic quote about paying players.

"You guys keep talking about a $20 million dollar roster, if you don't pay the right guys, you're shit out of luck," Saban quipped before the Notre Dame versus Texas A&M game last season. 

While discussing the honor of actually being nominated, Nick Saban made sure to praise his colleagues who sit on the stage with him every week, or work behind the scenes to make sure he was up for the task on Saturday. 

"It was a new experience," Saban told reporters on Tuesday about the nomination. "A lot of people helped contribute to learning how to do it. I certainly appreciate them and thank them for that. And we have a really good team of people who have lots of experience that I think helped me fit into the program, and hopefully we created some value of some sort.

"It's always an honor to be nominated for anything, but there's always so many people that contribute to it."

I feel for the other broadcasters out there in a similar role to Nick Saban, because he'll now be coming after more of these Emmy Awards in the future.