2026 Nick Saban Legacy Award: Best moments from ceremony honoring Lou Holtz and Mack Brown

The Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation, the charitable arm of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club, held the 2026 Nick Saban Legacy Award ceremony on Monday, Aug. 24 at the Red Mountain Theatre honoring the late Lou Holtz and coach Mack Brown.

Created in 2022, the prestigious national award honors and recognizes the lifetime achievement of a college coach and his contributions to the game of football. Past winners have included:

• Steve Spurrier
• Eddie Robinson
• Bill Snyder
• Vince Dooley
• Frank Beamer
• Bobby Bowden
• David Cutcliffe
• Pat Dye

“Mack Brown and Lou Holtz are people who had a tremendous amount of success and certainly represented our game in a first-class way with a lot of integrity.”

Coach Nick Saban

Lauren Sisler and Rick Neuheisel hosted the event. The event, which was also streamed live on WBRC Fox 6, was lighthearted and memorable.

Here are some of the moments and takeaways we were able to catch at the mini-press conferences before the event with Coach Saban and the honorees. We also got to capture Saban’s response to a question about his new hobby — bridge.

1. Nick Saban is playing bridge

At the beginning of the Awards ceremony, Sisler and Neuheisel interviewed Coach Saban about a wide range of topics — from the current state of college football to working on ESPN. 

The funniest moment was when they asked Coach Saban about taking up bridge as a hobby.

Here is how he described learning the game:

“So when I retired, they said — we need another person to play bridge. So Miss Terry tells me we’ll teach you how to play. 

I said, okay, teach me how to play. She tells me how to play, and she said, 

“Now we’re playing with these older ladies who are very southern, proper, you know, proper folks.

Miss Terry says you can’t talk sh*t.

And I said I’m not playing if I can’t talk sh*t.”

Now I got all those prim and proper ladies talking sh*t.”

2. What Saban learned after winning 2009 national championship

With former Texas Coach Mack Brown as an honoree, the press asked Saban what he remembered about that 2009 championship game. His answer was quite enlightening.

“That was a great game. They had a great team. We got ahead in the game. Got a turnover right before half. I remember a lot of it. Got sacked at the end of the game when they started coming back in the game, Eryk Anders, sack and fumble (recovery), put the game away. 

But that was a really, really young team, and I think one of the big disappointments for me was I thought we had a better team the next year and we lost three games. That was a lesson for all of us, all those players, all the coaches, myself — how do you sustain performance?”

Coach Nick Saban

3. No politics for Saban: “We never lose a game”

Over the past year Coach Saban met with the White House and testified in front of Congress about reforming NIL and the transfer portal in college sports. When asked if he was interested in politics by a reporter, Saban gave this straightforward reply.

“Why would I want to get thrown in that briar patch? I mean, I like what I’m doing now. I speak. I got businesses. I love being on ESPN. Got a great group of guys to be around every Saturday. There’s no consequences, we never lose a game. So why would I get involved in that?”

Coach Nick Saban

4. Mack Brown recognizes Saban + Monday Morning Quarterback Club’s philanthropic efforts

As an honoree, Coach Mack Brown made a point to recognize Nick Saban’s “Nick’s Kids” program and Birmingham’s Monday Morning Quarterback Club for raising millions of dollars for children’s health.

“I’m honored to have my name associated with Nick and Terry. They did a lot of things outside of football that were really important too with Nick’s Kids.”

Coach Mack Brown

5. Coach Brown’s thoughts on 2009 National Championship game and its biggest “What if”

Of course reporters asked Coach Mack Brown one of the big “what if” questions in college national championship game history. What would have happened if Texas All-American quarterback Colt McCoy had not gotten hurt on the fifth play of the game. Could they have beaten Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide?

People have asked me that for years, and the easy answer for me is to say yes, because I would want it to be. But that’s part of football. Your guys have to stay healthy, and theirs stayed healthy and ours didn’t. You gotta take what’s there and go with it and make the best of it that you can.”

Coach Mack Brown

6. Coach Mack Brown didn’t like hiring coaches that played golf or fish

Coach Brown talked about golfing more now that he is retired. He said previous Saban Legacy Award winner Steve Spurrier was one of the best college football coaches who golfs regularly.

In a lighthearted moment he said when he looked to hire assistant coaches, he was wary of ones that fished or played golf.

“Always said when I’m trying to interview an assistant coach, I’d go look in his trunk (car). If he had a fishing rod or a golf club, I wasn’t going to hire him, right? Because he needed to be working more than fishing and golfing.”

Coach Mack Brown

7. Coach Skip Holtz spent time with his father Lou Holtz before he passed away

Perhaps the most anticipated interview was with former Birmingham Stallions head coach Skip Holtz. He confirmed that one of the reasons he did not coach the Stallions in 2026 was because he wanted to spend time with his father, Saban Legacy Award winner Lou Holtz.

He talked about one of the most important things he learned from his dad was to have a “servant attitude.”

 “I was fortunate to live with him the last two months, and all the way to the end. You know, people were coming in to see him. He was in hospice. He was in a bed, and people would walk in, and one of his first things out of his mouth were, “What can I do for you?” It’s (was like that) all the way to the end. He carried that servant attitude.”

Coach Skip Holtz

8. Holtz loves Birmingham

The Saban Legacy Award ceremony also gave Skip Holtz a chance to say thank to Birmingham and the Stallions fans where he won three titles.

“Birmingham’s a special place. I absolutely love Birmingham…it’s like home. Birmingham will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Coach Skip Holtz

More than an award ceremony, the Saban Legacy Awards raise millions of dollars for local children’s health programs and initiatives. In 2025, the Monday Morning Quarterback Club gave over $2.75 million to 36 local children’s health organizations.

Visit Nick Saban Legacy Award website to learn more about the award and club.