Nick Saban on why he retired and why he won't coach again

[cdub55]

Curious that Saban's the only coach I'm aware of that threw in the towel. I fully believe that the issues at Alabama are/were worse than most other places. That came from how CNS managed the changes that were happening (NIL/portal) and he was not recruiting enough of the right kind of players. Too much focus on raw athleticism and too little regard for academics, football IQ, and character.

No doubt that CNS was working his tail off and handling all of these things exactly how he thought was best. In retrospect, it seems he misread the players and ended up making a bad situation worse. It happens to even the best sometimes. He would probably have had to tear it completely down and rebuild to fix it. Too big of a project when you can't get the players or coaches that you want.

No. Just no...

 

[cdub55]

"Too much focus on raw athleticism and too little regard for academics, football IQ, and character."

Really can't agree with this post in general, but I will just single out this one sentence.

I probably don't get out much, but I have seen no evidence whatsoever that this was the case with Coach Saban.

Don't know if there has ever been a college program with a more scientific approach to selecting players. This is well documented in numerous places.

I would find it hard to believe that Coach just threw his standards out the window, as this post would seem to imply.

Were there exceptions? You could certainly make a case for that. But to make a systemic change seems unlikely and a bit of a stretch to me.

Just my 2¢

I've mentioned this before but I'll say it again.

I had a 5* player one year that everyone and their momma was offering. In one day I had 3 SEC coaches and a few of the other national brand coaches scheduled to meet with me and my athlete to make their last pitch to try to get him to sign before NSD. Every single coach that walked in the door was pitching their program and buttering me and the athlete up. Telling jokes and having a good time. Saban was the only coach out of all of them that was still evaluating. When the young man was not in the room he was looking me in the eyes and saying, "so how fast is he really?". "What kind of kid is he?". etc.

No one recruited like Saban. No one put in the time like Saban. No one!

 

[Tide&True]

I don't think CNS will ever say that NIL was the reason he retired because of the optics...but you will never convince me that NIL didn't have a part in his retiring. I'm not saying he didn't want players to receive money but I do think the system by which NIL operates is the issue. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to get the genie back in the bottle now. More than ever before money will determine National Championships. For this reason my college football fandom is now muted and less demonstrative. It was good while it lasted.

 

[cdub55]

I don't think CNS will ever say that NIL was the reason he retired because of the optics...but you will never convince me that NIL didn't have a part in his retiring. I'm not saying he didn't want players to receive money but I do think the system by which NIL operates is the issue. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to get the genie back in the bottle now. More than ever before money will determine National Championships. For this reason my college football fandom is now muted and less demonstrative. It was good while it lasted.

Coach Saban was a leader who led with a heavy hand. He was extremely demanding of his coaches and his players. The older Saban got the less this was the case but make no mistake about it, he was still asking and expecting more than most.

NIL switched the leverage on who has the power. When a player can just up and leave on a whim, it is hard to lead in this manner. I think NIL did play a major factor in CNS retiring, but it was more indirectly.

 

[arthurdawg]

Coach Saban was a leader who led with a heavy hand. He was extremely demanding of his coaches and his players. The older Saban got the less this was the case but make no mistake about it, he was still asking and expecting more than most.

NIL switched the leverage on who has the power. When a player can just up and leave on a whim, it is hard to lead in this manner. I think NIL did play a major factor in CNS retiring, but it was more indirectly.

I agree... we saw the system coming apart at the seams from 2021-2023. CNS was faced with his biggest rebranding and rebuilding and recasting job ever. And I think he wisely walked away still pretty durned close to the top. He is tough man, but all of us will find a limit to our physical and mental ability as we hit our 70s.

 

[KrAzY3]

I don’t know about 10, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been several. I personally think he would have at least duplicated what he did at Alabama.

LSU is not as good a situation as Alabama. Having said that, they won two more after he left and he personally kept them from winning another. So, I'd say he wins at least 4 total at LSU, however, I think he ends up with at least one less championship total at LSU than his career total. They just don't have as much to work with there.

 

[teamplayer]

How did 17 years pass by so quickly...

Time flies when you are having fun! Roll Tide!
College football is not very interesting to me these days, but I am glad that we went out with a bang!

 

[Bill from NYC]

Coach Saban is obviously the GOAT. I think that one of his greatest accomplishments was getting to the championship game with Milroe at quarterback.

Jmo.

 

[TideMan09]

Mrs Terry deserves some quality years with Coach Saban, after spending all those year as a coach's wife, it's well a earned rest & catching up on some quality time together..

 

[AlexanderFan]

Dave Clawson just did, and I've heard that Kirby was extremely close to retiring a few years ago. Some of the mid major coaches took demotions to go to P5 schools (potentially even some on our staff, but I don't know their particular reasoning) bc the deck is fully stacked against them now, so I guess you can count those coaches too. It's happened, but Saban has really been the only one who has gotten significant media coverage.

Chip Kelly left a head coaching job, and OC at the national champions to go be an OC in the NFL.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

Chip Kelly left a head coaching job, and OC at the national champions to go be an OC in the NFL.

Chip has been trying to find a way to get back in NFL. I think He took OC at Ohio State because he needs to show that he can still call plays to get in NFL. I think he knew he wasn't coming back as HC, so he took a chance and it worked out for him.

 

[BAMAVILLE]

Just happy to have had him as a coach and what he was able to accomplish during his time at Bama

 

[colbysullivan]

I don't think CNS will ever say that NIL was the reason he retired because of the optics...but you will never convince me that NIL didn't have a part in his retiring. I'm not saying he didn't want players to receive money but I do think the system by which NIL operates is the issue. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to get the genie back in the bottle now. More than ever before money will determine National Championships. For this reason my college football fandom is now muted and less demonstrative. It was good while it lasted.

I mean, he literally said it

 

[jashleyren2]

How did 17 years pass by so quickly...

Looking back, when he came to Tuscaloosa, I was 31. When he retired, I was 48. That was a big timeframe for me too. A lot in life changes in that much time. There was a kid on the Tide roster just this past year who had never lived in a time when Nick Saban wasn't the coach of the program (Ryan Williams). Might have even been more than one. You'd have to find the roster's birthdates, and check against January 2007!!

 

[CrimsonCleanse]

Really and truly, it was just his time. NIL, portal, and LANK certainly contributed, but even without all of that, it was his time. I still remember clear as daybreak how painfully sad it was that Coach Bryant never got to do anything in retirement. He was just gone in the blink of an eye. His wife Mary didn't make it too long after him. She passed on August 26, 1984. Then one of his daughters died in 1988. I didn't want to see that happen to Saban and his family. I had the feeling that 2020 was his final national championship. And that was before NIL had really kicked in.

I saw a pretty good portion of the Bryant era and would have never guessed we would have had a second golden age. I'll always be grateful. The ride was incredible. I talk to Bama fans regularly in everyday life who seem to think that we are just in a lull right now and will retake college football soon. I wish they were right, but the truth is, history has a way of repeating itself and right now we are in our modern day Perkins era. I don't think we will go down the exact same road we did years later with the problems, scandals, and nearly being shutdown by the NCAA and whatnot. But, I do think that just like after The Bear, it's going to take a coaching change or two if we are going to make another run at another national championship in this lifetime.

 

[Scobaman]

Really and truly, it was just his time. NIL, portal, and LANK certainly contributed, but even without all of that, it was his time. I still remember clear as daybreak how painfully sad it was that Coach Bryant never got to do anything in retirement. He was just gone in the blink of an eye. His wife Mary didn't make it too long after him. She passed on August 26, 1984. Then one of his daughters died in 1988. I didn't want to see that happen to Saban and his family. I had the feeling that 2020 was his final national championship. And that was before NIL had really kicked in.

I saw a pretty good portion of the Bryant era and would have never guessed we would have had a second golden age. I'll always be grateful. The ride was incredible. I talk to Bama fans regularly in everyday life who seem to think that we are just in a lull right now and will retake college football soon. I wish they were right, but the truth is, history has a way of repeating itself and right now we are in our modern day Perkins era. I don't think we will go down the exact same road we did years later with the problems, scandals, and nearly being shutdown by the NCAA and whatnot. But, I do think that just like after The Bear, it's going to take a coaching change or two if we are going to make another run at another national championship in this lifetime.

I also remember the Bryant era but would add that the Stallings era was also a great time to be a Bama fan. The difference in the transition from Bryant to Perkins and the current transition is that Perkins was not a proven winner at the college level while our new coach is. I don't expect Bama to rise back to the totally dominant position it occupied with CNS, but even in today's tougher environment, this coach will be successful. Have you ever considered what might have happened if a strong athletic director had brought in Bobby Bowder to be the coach instead of a committee selecting Bill Curry?

 

[CB4]

I also remember the Bryant era but would add that the Stallings era was also a great time to be a Bama fan. The difference in the transition from Bryant to Perkins and the current transition is that Perkins was not a proven winner at the college level while our new coach is. I don't expect Bama to rise back to the totally dominant position it occupied with CNS, but even in today's tougher environment, this coach will be successful. Have you ever considered what might have happened if a strong athletic director had brought in Bobby Bowder to be the coach instead of a committee selecting Bill Curry?

This was a big problem in the post Perkins era coaching search. Perkins had been both AD and Head Football Coach. This put the decision in the hands of then President Joab Thomason and his “committee”. I have been told by very reliable folks close to the situation at that time that boosters and important alumni close to the program had Bowden “signed sealed and delivered” as the next Alabama head coach. Bowden was actually in the Sylacauga area supposedly on the pretext of “visiting his mother” expecting an offer, his acceptance and the announcement. He was then told by Thomas and a member of “the committee” he would have to “interview”. It wasn’t an issue of having to “interview” that PO’ed Coach Bowden. Bowden was blindsided by it. He thought he was meeting with Thomas as a formality to be offered. Next thing he knew he was being peppered by an interview committee.

And it was a snarky, condescending way this particular committee member addressed him in that situation. Putting it mildly, Bowden said “Nah I’m good” and walked. (I was told who the committee member was, but I’ll leave that be.)

Even after all that, Bowden would have taken the job if Thomas and the committee would have just said “you’re our guy”. But they didn’t.

This will go down for me as the biggest proverbial “$64,000 question” in the history of Alabama football in my lifetime. And also the quintessential answer to the question of “How do you screw up one car funeral procession?” Asked the late Joab Thomas and his ham fisted committee. They can tell you.

 

[PGDocBama]

Interestingly he mentioned not having as good of a staff and feeling like he had to be more involved in everything. As time goes by Saban will probably come to the conclusion that he retired for a number of reasons. When he immediately retired he said it was the players coming in only wanting to know about money. Since then he's said the transfer portal and the volatility in the rosters was a reason he got out and now it was because the work started to get to him. The truth is, it was all of that. It all accumulated and he reached a point where he had enough. Nothing wrong with reaching that decision. He more than earned the right to walk away when he wanted to.

100% agree. Full on combination and the weight of it will get you everytime.

 

[CrimsonCleanse]

I also remember the Bryant era but would add that the Stallings era was also a great time to be a Bama fan. The difference in the transition from Bryant to Perkins and the current transition is that Perkins was not a proven winner at the college level while our new coach is. I don't expect Bama to rise back to the totally dominant position it occupied with CNS, but even in today's tougher environment, this coach will be successful. Have you ever considered what might have happened if a strong athletic director had brought in Bobby Bowder to be the coach instead of a committee selecting Bill Curry?

I often wonder what would have been had we gotten Bowden in 1987. One big question is, would we stil have gotten Saban in 2007. Had Bowden come in 87, we would never have had Curry or Stallings, and definitely not Dubose, Fran, Price, or Shula. But, maybe somehow, in that alternate timeline, we still get Saban, just maybe a little later. That could have meant a third golden age of Bama football!

Of course, Stallings is the only coach between The Bear and Saban that I didn't regret. His time did bring about some incredible defenses

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I also remember the Bryant era but would add that the Stallings era was also a great time to be a Bama fan. The difference in the transition from Bryant to Perkins and the current transition is that Perkins was not a proven winner at the college level while our new coach is. I don't expect Bama to rise back to the totally dominant position it occupied with CNS, but even in today's tougher environment, this coach will be successful. Have you ever considered what might have happened if a strong athletic director had brought in Bobby Bowder to be the coach instead of a committee selecting Bill Curry?

I think in general, the standards to win the NC will be sort of relaxed. Remember how hot Day's seat was after losing to Michigan? It was getting warm after having failed to win and NC and beat Michigan before the loss this past season.

Schools will have assess if a coach is consistently making the x-team playoffs: do we keep him to keep getting into the playoffs, thus, getting a shot at the NC? Or do we go with someone else? It's a very NFL-way of thinking.