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How many additional National Championships
A2theyeFuckoDaWg
Member Posts: 628 
… does UW have if babs hired Nick Saban from Michigan State instead of Rick back in 98.
Seeing Auburn and Alabama ranked 1 & 2 in hoops is insane, talk about rising tides raising all boats. I doubt Saban stays at UW as long as Alabama especially with the Seahawks being an option for his nfl goals.
imo Nick would have won 3 natties here considering James had 1 legit title and we got totally fucked in 84. Had upper campus not stabbed Coach James in the back, it’s very likely Don would have recruited Saban to take over in the late 90s. Nick would have saved the PAC and west coast basketball wouldn’t have fallen off a cliff and I doubt Gonzaga is a power and the pick never happens. And no God awful purple helmets.
Comments
We don't deal in hypotheticals here.
Would have lost the first natty then got poached by Bama.
Nick and DeBoer and Smart aren't leaving the South. DeBoer just never had a choice initially since he couldn't even win his own Mountain West division at a school that's pretty good in that conference bu themselves.
What if I was born with the genetics of rugged good looks, a six pack, and 6'5 and could run a 4.4 40 yard dash with charm and wit?
Nick hadn't scratched his NFL itch yet
Saban wasn't Saban yet. Most of his Michigan State teams were mediocre.
I'm more interested in how this would impact our IRA title streak. How long would our consecutive natty streak have been? A decade? Two? With Saban in charge, we aren't just talking about football dominance—we're talking about an entire athletic department transformation.
First off, let's talk about 2010. Cal barely edged out Washington by 0.263 seconds. That’s an eyelash in rowing terms. Saban's presence alone would have given our guys an extra quarter-second, if not more. You think a Saban-conditioned squad—mentally and physically—lets that margin stand? Not a chance. So that’s at least 7 national titles in rowing right there.
Then there’s 2008. Washington was the favorite. Leading with 200 meters to go.
And then what happened? They folded. Soft. Tyrone Willingham had already infected the entire athletic department with his country-club culture, and it showed. Meanwhile, Wisconsin—who barely mattered in rowing before—was getting their guys hardened under the new Bielema regime. Those Badger rowers had the “run through a brick wall” mentality that our guys lacked at the time. With Saban in the department, that softness never takes root. No way a Saban-era UW program loses a race because they didn't have that extra gear. So that's at least 9 natty-level crews right there.
And let’s not ignore how this affects everything else. If Saban comes in '98, the entire ethos of the program changes. The man doesn't just win; he demands institutional dominance. That means facilities, recruiting, administrative commitment. The weight room culture shifts overnight. The mindset of every athlete on campus shifts. Crew started its dynasty in 2008, a full decade after football had started spiraling. With Saban in the fold, that mindset starts a decade earlier. By 2000, the Huskies are a factory across multiple sports. That’s more titles, more athletes buying into a system of complete dominance. How much early would our IRA streak have started?
And the butterfly effect? Who even knows? Maybe the Huskies don’t just dominate rowing—they redefine it. Maybe the program becomes so untouchable that it forces the Ivy League to actually invest in modern training methods just to keep up. Cal athletics would have folded and shut down just like we did with Gloomy Gil to Whitman and Whitworth back in the 1910s. Maybe international rowers start choosing Washington over Oxford and Cambridge. One thing’s for sure: purple helmets never happen under Saban. That’s worth at least one additional title in my book.
So yeah, football wins three natties. But what’s the real legacy? An entire athletic department of winners. Rowing, water polo, hell—probably even the sailing team becomes a dynasty. Instead of just being another great crew program, Washington becomes the undisputed, unchallenged king of the water. But nah, we got Rick instead. Good times.
Thud obviously
FM running, my reads are so bad
It takes time…
Too bad Lambo went in dry on ol Nicky in Hawaii. Maybe that left a bad impression?🤷♂️
Army Ranger? those measurables sound familiar, possibly an inside joke around here I may have read months ago in the classics while lurking.
Yes, 6' 5" Army Ranger
used a lot like most of them, but a good one
Are you fucking kidding?
Pinkle in 99 or 03 is a more realistic idea. 1-10, 2-9, 4-9, 0-12 would have never happened. UW would have been in the top 3 of the PAC with Oregon and USC in the 2000’s and Oregon and Stanford in the 2010’s. He’d of taken the job too. Babs was too near the flames of Lambo to circle back to Pinkle. She wanted to distance from the James years. Ghey.