Top 25
0-10
- Games
- 10
- Win rate
- 0.0%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachDefense-First
Coach Profile
Lou Saban
1955-1979 • Army, Maryland, Miami, Northwestern
4 schools coached, anchored by Miami.
Lou Saban's coaching record is 15-35-2, highlighted by seasons at Miami from 1955 to 1979.
Lou Saban coached 5 seasons, won 30.8%, and posted an average SRS of -2.1. Best season: 1978 Miami. The profile was defense-first with a swing-heavy profile. 4 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 15-35-2
- Career win rate
- 30.8%
- Average SRS
- -2.1
- Peak SRS
- 6.8
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 5
- Career span
- 25 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 45.6
Primary school anchor
Miami
Defense-First profile with 4 program stops and a peak score of 53.4.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 15-35-2
- Miami record
- 9-13
- Full-season record
- 15-35-2
- Vs AP Top 10
- 0-5
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-2
- Vs Florida State
- 1-1
- Postseason / bowl record
- 0-0
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
52 countable games, 30.8% win rate.
2 countable seasons at Miami.
5 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
5 games using AP ranking at game time.
2 games using AP ranking at game time.
Florida State-Miami games in this dataset.
0 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 1, 1979. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Lou Saban
EliteStrongAverageLean
Lou Saban: 1966 MarylandLou Saban: 1977 MiamiLou Saban: 1979 Army
1955Actual season year • SRS range -12.0 to 6.81979
Active comparison point
Lou Saban • 1978
1978 Miami
Best season6-5 • SRS 6.8 • SP Overall 4.9
Win %
54.5%
YoY SRS
+4.8
SP Off / Def
23.2 / 18.9
Finish
Unranked
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
0-5
- Games
- 5
- Win rate
- 0.0%
Top 5
0-2
- Games
- 2
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results10
| 1979 Regular Week 12 | Army | Pittsburgh | #11 | L0-40 |
| 1979 Regular Week 5 | Army | North Carolina | #18 | L3-41 |
| 1978 Regular Week 9 | Miami | Notre Dame | #15 | L0-20 |
| 1978 Regular Week 4 | Miami | Florida State | #10 | L21-31 |
| 1978 Regular Week 3 | Miami | Colorado | #19 | L7-17 |
| 1977 Regular Week 11 | Miami | Alabama | #2 | L0-36 |
| 1977 Regular Week 9 | Miami | Penn State | #9 | L7-49 |
| 1977 Regular Week 2 | Miami | Ohio State | #6 | L0-10 |
| 1955 Regular Week 7 | Northwestern | Ohio State | #15 | L0-49 |
| 1955 Regular Week 5 | Northwestern | Michigan | #1 | L2-14 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Army
1979-1979 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS -12.0 • Win % 22.7%
Miami
1977-1978 • 2 seasons
Avg SRS 4.4 • Win % 40.9%
Maryland
1966-1966 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS 0.9 • Win % 40.0%
Northwestern
1955-1955 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS -8.3 • Win % 5.6%
- Longest tenure
- Miami • 2 seasons
- Best tenure
- Miami • 4.4 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Miami • 40.9%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Lou Saban sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeLou Saban sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Lou Saban
Mixed
- Raw avg SP Overall
- -2.2
- Percentile
- 49th pct
Mixed
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Army
1979-1979 • 2-8-1
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -12.0Win % 22.7%
Avg wins
Higher is better
2.0 during vs 4.2 baseline
-2.2
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-12.0 during vs -7.6 baseline
-4.4
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-16.4 during vs -12.9 baseline
-3.5
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Miami
1977-1978 • 9-13
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 4.4Win % 40.9%
Avg wins
Higher is better
4.5 during vs 4.2 baseline
+0.3
Avg SRS
Higher is better
4.4 during vs 6.6 baseline
-2.2
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
5.0 during vs 9.0 baseline
-4.1
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Maryland
1966-1966 • 4-6
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 0.9Win % 40.0%
Avg wins
Higher is better
4.0 during vs 5.0 baseline
-1.0
Avg SRS
Higher is better
0.9 during vs 3.4 baseline
-2.5
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
— during vs — baseline
—
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Northwestern
1955-1955 • 0-8-1
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -8.3Win % 5.6%
Avg wins
Higher is better
0.0 during vs 3.6 baseline
-3.6
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-8.3 during vs 5.5 baseline
-13.8
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
— during vs — baseline
—
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Miami 1978
6-5 • SRS 6.8
Biggest Improvement
Maryland 1966
4-6 • 9.2 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Miami 1978
6-5 • SP Off 23.2
Best Defensive Season
Miami 1977
3-8 • SP Def 17.8
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Army 1979
2-8-1 • SRS -12.0
Biggest Drop
Army 1979
2-8-1 • -18.8 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Army | 1979 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 22.7% | — | — | -12.0 | -16.4 | 14.2 | 30.0 | -18.8 | -31.8% | Season summary |
| Miami | 1978 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | 6.8 | 4.9 | 23.2 | 18.9 | +4.8 | +27.3% | Season summary |
| Miami | 1977 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 27.3% | — | — | 2.0 | 5.0 | 22.0 | 17.8 | +1.1 | -12.7% | Season summary |
| Maryland | 1966 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 40.0% | — | — | 0.9 | — | — | — | +9.2 | +34.4% | Season summary |
| Northwestern | 1955 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 5.6% | — | — | -8.3 | — | — | — | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
Rocky Long
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.4
Avg SRS -1.7 • Peak SRS 6.2 • 20 seasons
Best finish #25 • Volatility 5.7
Open profile →Greg Schiano
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.7
Avg SRS -0.4 • Peak SRS 15.5 • 17 seasons
Best finish #12 • Volatility 8.5
Open profile →Ron Dowhower
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.6
Avg SRS -2.7 • Peak SRS 6.7 • 3 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.7
Open profile →Brady Hoke
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.2
Avg SRS -1.9 • Peak SRS 15.8 • 17 seasons
Best finish #12 • Volatility 9.6
Open profile →Lee Corso
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.8
Avg SRS -1.3 • Peak SRS 10.7 • 15 seasons
Best finish #18 • Volatility 7.5
Open profile →John Pont
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5
Avg SRS -2.7 • Peak SRS 7.0 • 16 seasons
Best finish #4 • Volatility 6.1
Open profile →