Nick Saban Legacy Award
ABOUT NSLA
The Nick Saban Legacy Award
The Nick Saban Legacy Award was established in 2022 by the Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation as a national award to honor and recognize the lifetime achievement of a college coach and his contributions to the game of football.
The award is named annually in honor of the amazing achievements of Coach Nick Saban. It celebrates his contributions to the game of football, his community, and his development of young men and coaches as they further their own careers.
Past recipients of the Nick Saban Legacy Award include Coach Frank Beamer (2024), the late Coach Bobby Bowden (2024), Coach Bill Snyder (2023) , the late Coach Vince Dooley (2023), Coach Steve Spurrier (2022) and the late Coach Eddie Robinson (2022).
2025 PRESENTATION
Monday, August 18, 2025 • Red Mountain Theatre
The 2025 Nick Saban Legacy Award recipients are Coach David Cutcliffe and the late Coach Pat Dye. The presentation at Red Mountain Theatre on Monday, August 18, 2025 at 6 pm is hosted by Lauren Sisler and Rick Neuheisel and features football royalty such as Nick Saban. This can’t miss event is proudly presented by the Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation and WBRC 6 News.
Hosts
Lauren Sisler and Rick Neuheisel
Guests of Honor
Nick and Terry Saban
Award Recipients
Coach David Cutcliffe and the late Coach Pat Dye
Presentation Participants
Brought to you By
Coach David Cutcliffe
While at the University of Tennessee he received the Frank Broyles Award as Best Assistant Coach of the Year. He was Tennessee’s Offensive Coordinator when they won the National Championship in 1998. As head coach at Ole Miss he led the Rebels to four bowl victories. The Rebels were Co-SEC Western Division Champions in 2003. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2003. He mentored two Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks in Peyton Manning (Tennessee) and Eli Manning (Ole Miss). In 2012 he led Duke to their first bowl game in 18 years. The ten wins in 2013 for Duke was the first double digit win total for a season in 100 years of Blue Devil football.
The Late Coach Pat Dye
Pat Dye was an All-American guard at the University of Georgia and was also named an Academic All-American. Following an Army tour of duty, he played two years in the Canadian Football League. In 1965, he joined the coaching staff of Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama where, during the next nine years, he was part of two national championships. After head coaching stops at East Carolina and Wyoming, he was named the head coach at Auburn University in 1981. During the 1980s, he established one of the premier programs in the country, winning or sharing four SEC titles with an 81-25 record. He retired from coaching at the end of the 1992 season.
2024
Coach Frank Beamer
The winningest coach in Virginia Tech history, Frank Beamer’s 280 career victories rank sixth in FBS history and are the 13th most by a college football coach at any NCAA division.
He led the Hokies to their first-ever national title game appearance as part of an impressive streak of 23 consecutive bowl berths in his final 23 seasons.
Beamer began his 35-year head coaching career at Murray State from 1981-86, and he ranks fourth in school history in wins after leading the Racers to a 42-23-2 record in six seasons. In 1986, he guided the team to a share of the Ohio Valley Conference title and a trip to the FCS Playoffs. In 1987, Beamer became the head coach at his alma mater Virginia Tech, where would win a school-record 238 games in 29 seasons (1987-2015). Arguably, his best season came in 1999 when he earned consensus National Coach of the Year honors after leading Virginia Tech to an appearance in the BCS National Championship at the Sugar Bowl following the program’s first 11-win season and first undefeated regular season in school history.
The Late Coach Bobby Bowden
The name Bobby Bowden is synonymous with college football. The Birmingham native won 377 games over his long career as a head coach at Samford, West Virginia and Florida State.
Bowden played on the freshman team at Alabama in 1948 before transferring to Samford (then Howard College), where he played from 1949 to 1952, and earned All-America honors in 1952 as a quarterback. While serving as head coach at his alma mater from 1959 to 1962, Bowden amassed a record of 31-6, posting the highest winning percentage of any coach in school history. He was hired as the head coach at West Virginia in 1970, and served in that role until 1975.
In 1976, Bowden began his legendary run at Florida State. During his time with the Seminoles, Bowden won 304 games, and he led the program to the 1993 and 1999 national titles and 12 ACC championships. He finished every season from 1987 to 2000 with at least 10 wins.
Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
2023
Coach Bill Snyder
Precise. Intense. Tireless. Accomplished. Dedicated. Caring. 200-Game Winner. Hall of Famer. Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder is all of these and much more. Bill Snyder is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005, and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the position from 2006 to 2008, before being rehired. Snyder retired for the second time on December 2, 2018. He now serves as special ambassador for the athletics department.
Snyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015 and won several conference and national coach of the year awards. He was the head coach at Kansas State for the program’s 300th, 400th, and 500th all-time wins. In recognition of his contributions to the program, the football stadium at Kansas State, Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium, is named in honor of him and his family.
The Late Coach Vince Dooley
For 40 years, Vince Dooley had an enduring impact on the University of Georgia, Southeastern Conference and collegiate athletics across the country.
Born into an athletic family in Mobile, Alabama, Dooley accepted a football scholarship to Auburn where he was an all-star football and basketball player. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1954 and masters in 1963, he accepted his first coaching job as an assistant with the Tigers – being promoted to head coach at the end of the 1963 season. Following one season at Auburn, Dooley took the helm at Georgia and found a permanent home. In 25 seasons, he won 201 games, six SEC titles and a national championship in 1980. For his legendary career, Dooley was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.
In 1979, Dooley accepted the dual role as head coach and director of athletics for the Bulldogs. During his tenure Georgia athletics has seen unprecedented success. Under his watch, Georgia teams have won 18 national championships, including an amazing four in the 1998-99 academic year. Georgia teams have also won 74 SEC team championships and numerous individual national titles in both men’s and women’s sports.
2022
Coach Steve Spurrier
The winningest head coach in both Florida and South Carolina history, Steve Spurrier becomes just the fourth person ever to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. Spurrier began his 26-year head coaching career at Duke from 1987-89. The ACC Coach of the Year in both 1988 and 1989, his 1989 team won the university’s first ACC title since 1962 and made its first bowl appearance since 1960. Spurrier became the head coach at his alma mater, Florida, in 1990, compiling a 122-27-1 record over 12 seasons in “The Swamp.” His Gators appeared in back-to-back national championship games, winning the 1996 national title. During his tenure in Gainesville, Spurrier led the Gators to six wins in 11 bowl appearances, and he was named SEC Coach of the Year five times. He helped the Gators win their first-ever conference title in 1991, and he added five more, including four straight from 1993-96 and one in 2000. At Florida, he became the only coach in major college football history to win at least 120 games in his first 12 seasons at one school, and his teams never finished lower than No. 13 in the final rankings.
After coaching the NFL’s Washington Redskins, he became the head coach at South Carolina where he compiled an 86-49 record from 2005-15. Spurrier picked up two more SEC Coach of the Year honors, leading the Gamecocks to their first-ever SEC East title in 2010 and five bowl victories in nine berths. His South Carolina teams finished in the top 25 four times, including a No. 4 ranking after the 2013 season. He joins Hall of Fame coach Bear Bryant (Kentucky and Alabama) as the only two coaches in college football history to have the most wins at two different SEC schools. During his career at all three universities, Spurrier coached one Heisman Trophy winner in Danny Wuerffel (Florida), 34 First Team All-Americans, 118 first team all-conference players and nine First Team Academic All-Americans. He coached two members of the College Football Hall of Fame in Clarkston Hines (Duke) and Wuerffel (Florida).
The 1966 Heisman Trophy winner as the quarterback at Florida, Spurrier was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986. He is a member of multiple other halls of fame, including the University of Florida and University of Florida Athletics. In 2016, his name was added to the Gators’ home field. After a 10-year playing career with the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he served as an assistant coach at Florida, Georgia Tech and Duke and as head coach of the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits.
The Late Coach Eddie Robinson
Eddie Robinson coached Grambling State University 55 years. He won 408 games, lost 165, and tied 15. The 408 games won set a record for a college football coach. Among other achievements were these: 17 championships in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, 9 Black College National Championships, a streak of 27 consecutive winning seasons 1960-86. He had more than 80 players who joined teams in the National & American Football Leagues. Among the most famous were Willie Davis, Charlie Joiner, Buck Buchanan, Willie Brown, Tank Younger, Doug Williams, and Ernie Ladd.
Robinson received more awards than any other coach in history. Grambling named its new stadium after him. Both Grambling and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, named streets for him. Sports Illustrated had Eddie Robinson on its cover in 1985. The National Football Foundation gave him its award for Contribution to Amateur Football in 1992 and named him to College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He is in another dozen halls of fame. Sports Network in 1987 started the Eddie Robinson Award for the coach of the year in Division I-AA. A Robinson Award for player of the year in black college football started in 1994.
The Football Writers Association named the Robinson Award for national coach of the year in 1997. Robinson served as president of the American Football Coaches Association & the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. He talked about his career: “I’m proud that most of our players graduate. We begin each meeting with a talk about the importance of education. The most important thing in football is the boy who plays the game. You can’t coach ’em unless you love ’em.”