The 2026 College Football Playoff, brought to you by Nick Saban - ESPN

The only game that coaches love more than coaching an actual game is the game of «Hey, who have you coached with?»

Hey Coach, nice to meet you.

Good to meet you, too, Coach.

Coach, didn't you coach with the same coach I coached with when we were assistant coaches for that one head coach?

Yes, I did, Coach. He's a helluva guy. And a helluva coach. And the head coach we coached under ...

Now, that's a helluva guy and helluva coach.

They fist-bump (or hold up their drinks) and say in unison: To Coach!

As the newest edition of the College Football Playoff begins, that conversation will be taking place on sidelines and in hotel bars from Oxford to Oregon. And nearly every toast/dedication will be in honor of a man whose still-growing legacy stands out in a forest of coaching trees like a crimson-colored sequoia.

«I know there are a lot of coaching trees out there that were started by a lot of legends,» Kirby Smart said on the eve of winning the SEC championship game in Atlanta. After a decade at the helm of the Georgia Bulldogs, he has planted quite the nursery of saplings himself. «But I'm not sure anyone can match what Nick Saban has done when it comes to preparing coaches, getting them ready to run their own programs.»

Smart smartly points out that to him, a «coaching tree» isn't about where someone started their career or how many years they spent with a coach, but rather the influence that root coach has, even if the assistant served on his staff for only one season.

«To me, it's about the mentor aspect of it,» Smart said of Saban during the same weekend when he said he called Saban for advice and also did a live interview with Saban on «College GameDay.» «Can I call that coach whenever I need to, even if I am now