When it comes to your impact as a leader, the number of branches on your “tree” matters.
Here’s what I mean: Think about Nick Saban. Widely regarded as one of the greatest college football coaches ever, the former Alabama signal caller’s most significant impact on the game today may not be the seven championships he won over the years.
Instead, it might just be his extensive coaching tree.
In the 2025 College Football Playoffs, five of the eight teams that made it to the semi-finals were led by Saban’s former assistants. That’s an astonishing number—more than half the squads were run by Saban’s “tree.”
Those names include Kirby Smart of Georgia, Pete Golding of Ole Miss (who replaced another Saban assistant in Lane Kiffin), Mario Cristobal of Miami, Dan Lanning of Oregon, and Curt Cignetti of Indiana. During several trips to work for Saban, speaking to his teams during preseason camps over the last 8 years of his tenure, I was invited by coach to sit in on his coaching meetings. It was fascinating to look around that room, especially given what’s happened since.
Of course, being successful does not mean you are a talented teacher. In basketball, for example, Michael Jordan may be the best player ever, but he was a poor team owner and talent evaluator. In the NFL, Bill Belichick may be the best head coach of all time, but while many of his assistants landed head coaching jobs in the league, few have shown much success.
But Saban? He knows how to develop talent both on the field and in the coaching booth.
How does he do it? Part of Saban’s strategy is tough love. “I got a lot of ass-chewings,” Kiffin has said. “But I deserved it.” Other times it was with the precision of a scientist. “Pay attention to details,” was a common Saban refrain, Lanning has said. But in the end, the results were the same. Wins and development.
How many among us can say we’ve impacted our workplace not only today but for generations to come? If wisdom is to be shared, and not hoarded, then shouldn’t one of the tent poles of leadership in business be to develop the next wave of success stories?
Indeed, how many people have each of us helped to grow?
It’s not hard to argue that the size of your tree is the clearest measurement of your greatness in a particular field. Looking to the NBA again, former five-time champion San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich boasts an accomplished coaching tree of his own. Some of his acolytes include Steve Kerr, Mike Budenholzer and Becky Hammon.
For Pop, it was about impact on people not just stat sheets.
“The number of people Pop has influenced, the number of people in his coaching tree, is just incredible,” Kerr, a five-time NBA champion player and four-time champion coach, has said. “Pop is one of the most important people in my life for many, many reasons. And most of them go way beyond basketball.”
To use a metaphor, a coach is a lot like a parent. For those looking up to them, they must exude strength and vision. They must also care and mentor. While each parent would like to see and experience success themselves, doesn’t every one of them also agree that seeing their kids succeed is infinitely better? Of course.
When I had the chance to thank my children during an awards speech a couple of years ago I used a line that I wish will ring true forever: “I hope my ceiling becomes your floor.”
That’s what Popovich did in the NBA and that’s what Saban did in college football. Today, Saban can sit back on his sofa and watch all of his pups chase the success he saw during his career while using the same techniques and philosophies he drilled into them. It must be a fantastic and fascinating feeling.
“I always wanted to have a program to help people be more successful in life and reach their goals and aspirations,” Saban has said.
That goal, like so many others in the coach’s life, has officially been achieved.
