Nick Saban is praised for the outrageous results his teams have produced on the field throughout his tenure at Alabama -- a school that has won five football national titles during the last nine seasons while becoming a dynasty in living color.
What has often been overlooked is how Saban has helped improve the Crimson Tide's performance in the classroom.
The football program's academic progress rate -- known as the APR-- has improved in nine of the ten seasons it's been calculated during the Saban era.
Alabama's most recent score of 984, which was tabulated over a four-year period and released to the public this week, is the highest it's ever been. It's also 16 points above the national average for FBS teams and better than the scores linked to 13 of the 14 members of the Southeastern Conference. Only Vanderbilt's 993 was superior.
"The No. 1 goal for us is to try to provide leadership that's going to help our players have a better chance to be successful in life, whether it's their personal development or developing a career off the field by graduating from school," Saban said in April. "Whether it's trying to develop a career as a football player, I think that all starts with setting a good example and being somebody that somebody wants to emulate, but also caring enough about somebody else to do things to help them for their benefit."
Back in January, when Alabama played in the national championship, 25 members of the team had already received their diplomas.
"I'm proud of the fact that we've graduated at a very high rate relative to everybody else -- one of the top schools in the country," Saban said, "That's our goal, to create value for our players. It is an opportunity. With an opportunity comes a burden. The burden is not necessarily easy so I get that. And you do it for your teammates and you do it for your future and your opportunity to be successful because you have a goal and an aspiration for what you want to accomplish and what you want to do in your life."
One of the residual benefits -- a higher APR score for the university -- isn't too shabby either.
History of Alabama football APR
School year; Score
2004 - 2005; 916
2005 - 2006; 942
2006 - 2007; 944
2007 - 2008; 955
2008 - 2009; 957
2009 - 2010; 963
2010 - 2011; 970
2011 - 2012; 978
2012 - 2013; 975
2013 - 2014; 978
2014 - 2015; 979
2015 - 2016; 980
2016 - 2017; 984
BOLD = Saban Era
Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin