Has Saban already surpassed the man in the houndstooth hat?

[...] an argument can be made that Saban already surpassed the man in the houndstooth hat.

Saban has five national titles — four as Alabama's coach, plus a BCS crown at LSU — going into Monday night's championship game against Clemson.

In 1964, with Joe Namath at quarterback, the Crimson Tide finished 10-0 during the regular season and was voted No. 1 in The Associated Press media poll as well as the coaches' poll, both of which conducted their final tally before the bowls.

Alabama was No. 1 in both polls after a perfect regular season in 1973, but the Crimson Tide lost to No. 2 Notre Dame 24-23 in a Sugar Bowl still remembered as one of college football's landmark games.

[...] Bryant captured his first three national titles with an all-white team during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s, then three more after integration and a switch to the revolutionary wishbone offense in the early 1970s.

While hardly a driving force when it came to breaking down racial barriers, Bryant supposedly scheduled the 1970 season opener against Southern Cal — which featured African-American running back Sam Cunningham — to show the value of having black players.

Since the beginning of the 2008 season, Alabama has won 112 of 124 games.

Of Saban's four national titles, the only one that stirred any debate was in 2011, when the Crimson Tide lost to LSU at home during the regular season but got another shot at the Tigers in the Sugar Bowl.