Nick Saban Says Retirement Not About NIL, Changes in College Football

In his first public comments since announcing his retirement, Saban told ESPN that last season was challenging from a health standpoint and how he still wants to stay involved with the program.

Nick Saban retired on Wednesday after 17 seasons as the Alabama football head coach. However, he still showed up to the Mal Moore Facility Thursday morning like it was business as usual as captured by WBRC.

Moments ago, outgoing Alabama head coach Nick Saban arrived at the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility in Tuscaloosa. https://t.co/tP4dsCpHXR pic.twitter.com/qOvf9c4A6z

— WBRC 6 News (@WBRCnews) January 11, 2024

According to sources, Saban shared in the team meeting with the players that he felt he could no longer coach to the standard, so it wouldn't be fair to the team if stayed in coaching. 

Saban's retirement seems sudden and shocking, leaving people to wonder what the real reasons are. In his first public comments since the official announcement, Saban told ESPN that even though he doesn't necessarily like the direction college football is going in some areas, particularly with NIL, that wasn't the reason he decided to retire. 

"Don't make it about that. It's not about that," Saban told ESPN. "To me, if you choose to coach, you don't need to be complaining about all that stuff. You need to adjust to it and adapt to it and do the best you can under the circumstances and not complain about it. Now, I think everybody is frustrated about it. We had an SEC conference call, 14 coaches on there [Wednesday], and there's not one guy you can talk to who really understands what's happening in college football and thinks that it's not an issue.

"But this [his retirement] ain't about that. We've been in this era for three years now, and we've adapted to it and won in this era, too. It's just that I've always known when it would be time to turn it over to somebody else, and this is that time."

At 72 years old, Saban also shared that last season was difficult from a health standpoint, not citing any major issues, but just that it was more challenging for him to do things the way he had always done them. 

The former Alabama head coach still showed up at the facility because he wants to support the players and staff in any ways possible according to ESPN. 

"There are a lot of things to clean up, to help as we move forward," Saban siad to ESPN. "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."

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