Source: Kevin C. Cox / Getty
University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban has finally called it quits as head coach of the Alabama Crismon Tide and the sports world is shocked.
The day most Alabama fans dreaded has finally arrived.
At 4 p.m. on January 10, one tweet broke the news that head coach Nick Saban was riding off into the sunset. After the tweet went out, some people suspected that it was a lie considering that the retirement rumors come out every off-season.
Nick Saban is retiring, sources tell ESPN. He won six national titles at Alabama.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) January 10, 2024
Something Saban told me last month rings pretty loud now: "Fourteen-hour days are a lot harder at 72 than they were at 62 when you want to make sure you're on top of everything, which is more difficult than ever now as a head coach with everything you have to manage …"
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) January 11, 2024
Unfortunately this time it was legit and Saban said he was leaving citing his age and health concerns. However, according to ESPN, those concerns aren’t cause for alarm, as the coach said his 14-hour days were “a lot harder to navigate at 72 ” than they were at 62.
“Last season was difficult for me from just a health standpoint, not necessarily having anything major wrong, but just being able to sustain and do things the way I want to do them, the way I’ve always done them,” Saban told ESPN writer Chris Low. “It just got a little bit harder. So you have to decide, ‘OK, this is sort of inevitable when you get to my age.'”
In a move that surprised no one, Saban showed up to work today at 8 a.m. with longtime Bama staffer Cedric by his side which is a preview of what’s to come at the University.
“I want to be there for the players, for the coaches, anything I can do to support them during this transition,”the coach who won six national championships at Alabama told ESPN.
“There are a lot of things to clean up, to help as we move forward. I’m still going to have a presence here at the university in some form and trying to figure out all that and how it works. This is a place that will never be too far away from Miss Terry’s and my hearts.”
Saban retired and still showed up to work the next day.
Does he not get how this works? pic.twitter.com/TnuvZeBjIn
— Nick Perkins (@NickyPerkss) January 11, 2024
Saban also revealed to players he would still be around and is getting a new office above Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa which is great for the fans but might not be fun for the players and staff.
“I wanted them to know how much they meant to me,” said Saban, who won six national championships at Alabama and another one at LSU. “It was hard, all of it was. The last few days have been hard. But look, it’s kind of like I told the players. I was going to go in there and ask them to get 100 percent committed to coming back and trying to win a championship, but I’ve always said that I didn’t want to ride the program down, and I felt whether it was recruiting or hiring coaches, now that we have people leaving, the same old issue always sort of came up — how long are you going to do this for?”
Rece Davis reports that Nick Saban said he will be given an office above Bryant-Denny Stadium.
He told players, “I can get on your ass from there just as easy as I can get on your ass from here.”
— Sidelines – Bama (@SSN_Alabama) January 11, 2024
If you listen to Saban’s interview with ESPN it sounds like he is about to have a huge role in college sports. With NIL changing the game in ways many didn’t imagine, someone has to oversee it and who else would be a better fit than the greatest football coach of all time?
You can watch his full interview below and see some tributes to Goat Saban on the flip.
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