Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American professional football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) between 1946 and 1949. Saban then began a long coaching career. After numerous jobs at the college level, he became the first coach of the Boston Patriots in the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. He joined the Buffalo Bills two years later, and led the team to consecutive AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. Saban was the first head coach to win multiple AFL championships, with only Hank Stram passing him. After serving briefly as head coach at the University of Maryland, he was hired as head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1967, where he remained for five years. Saban returned to the Bills—by then in the National Football League (NFL) following the AFL–NFL merger—from 1972 to 1976, reaching the playoffs once but failing to bring Buffalo another championship.

Following his departure from Buffalo, Saban returned to college coaching. He coached teams including the University of Miami, Army, University of Central Florida and Peru State College. He also coached at the high school level and for two Arena Football League teams. Saban switched jobs frequently and developed a reputation as an itinerant. At Central Florida, he was nicknamed Lou "two point two" Saban because he typically stayed in a coaching job for about 2.2 years. Saban initially dismissed this characterization, but came to accept it later in life. He held 21 coaching jobs during his 50-year career (lasting an average of 2.38 years for each job), which ended with a job at Chowan University in North Carolina between 2001 and 2002. Saban's combined record as a coach in the AFL and NFL was 95–99–7. His college football record was 94–99–4. Saban suffered from heart problems and had a fall in his home that required hospitalization in 2009. He died in March of that year.

Saban was the son of immigrants from Croatia and grew up near La Grange, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His first job, at age nine, was as a caddy for Al Capone's brother Ralph at a Chicago golf course. He was the brother of John Saban. He attended Lyons Township High School and joined the school's football team. A runner and passer, he led his high school's athletic conference in scoring as a senior and was named an all-state and all-conference halfback.

Saban's high school coach was an Indiana University alumnus and convinced him to enroll there. Saban played for the Indiana Hoosiers football team starting in 1940. He was used as a quarterback in 1941, his sophomore year. He also played as a linebacker and a placekicker. Saban was named to the Associated Press All-Big Ten second team as a quarterback in 1942. He was the captain of Indiana's 1942 team and was selected as its most valuable player. Saban was also a standout shot putter, winning a Big Ten Conference competition at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1943 with a throw of 48 feet and 11 1/2 inches.

Later in 1943, Saban joined the U.S. Army as World War II intensified following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1944, he was selected to compete in the College All-Star Game, a now-defunct annual contest between the National Football League champion and a selection of the best college players from around the country. Saban, then stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia, was named the college team's second Most Valuable Player after quarterback Glenn Dobbs of the University of Tulsa. He kicked three extra points and played on the defensive line in the all-stars' 24–21 loss to the Chicago Bears. Saban played for Fort Benning's 1944 Third Infantry Cockades football team, while stationed there. He also studied Chinese for five months at the University of California and served in China and India as an Army interpreter.

Saban was selected in the 10th round of the 1944 NFL draft by Card-Pitt, a temporary merger between the Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers made necessary after the teams were gutted by players' military service. Saban, however, did not sign with Card-Pitt, and instead joined the Cleveland Browns, a team under formation in the new All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and coached by Paul Brown. Brown said Saban would be used exclusively on defense as a linebacker and as a kicker of extra points. Saban was one of the first arrivals at the Browns' training camp in Bowling Green, Ohio, having left China just three weeks before.

Despite Brown's intentions, Saban was used occasionally on the Browns' offense in 1946. He caught a 44-yard pass from quarterback Otto Graham in a September game against the Buffalo Bisons. He was mainly used as a linebacker, however, and had four interceptions as the Browns won the first AAFC championship. In the offseason, he worked for Browns owner Mickey McBride's Yellow Cab Company; many of his teammates spent the offseason either at college making up for time lost to the war or taking jobs to supplement their football incomes.

Saban was named the Browns' captain in 1946 after Jim Daniell, the first team captain, was arrested in a scuffle with Cleveland police and was kicked off the team at the end of the season. The following year, he filled in to kick extra points when the team's regular placekicker, Lou Groza, was injured. The Browns amassed a 12–1–1 regular-season record in 1947 and won the AAFC championship for the second time in a row.