Nick Saban Says There's 'No Illness' for Him or Miss Terry

The former Alabama head coach shared more information why he felt it was the right time to step down.

According to reports, when Nick Saban announced his retirement to the team Wednesday afternoon, he cited health as one of the reasons that pushed him toward retirement. 

But the former Alabama head coach clarified in an interview with ESPN's Rece Davis that there are no serious health issues for him or his wife of 50-plus years Terry. 

"There’s no illness. Miss Terry’s fine. I’m fine," Saban told ESPN. "But it was the, can you sustain the season–j ust from a mental grind standpoint. When I was young, I could work until 2 in the morning, get up at 6 and be there the next day and be full of energy and go for it. But when you get a little older, that gets a little tougher. And I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that."

Saban said that his age, 72, was becoming more of a challenge in recruiting because he didn't want to be dishonest with recruits about how long he might continue coaching. 

"I actually thought that in hiring coaches, recruiting players, that my age started to become a little bit of an issue," Saban said. "People wanted assurances that I would be here for three years, five years whatever. And it got harder and harder for me to be honest about [it.] And to be honest, this last season was grueling. It was a real grind for us to come from where we started to where we got to— took a little more out of me than usual.

"When people mention the health issue, it was really just the grind of, can you do this the way you want to do it? Can you do this the way you’ve always done it and be able to sustain it and do it for the entire season. And if I couldn’t’ make a commitment to do that in the future the way I think I have to do it, I thought maybe this was the right time based on those two sets of circumstances that… Like I said, there’s never a good time, but I thought this was the right time.”

Saban has been at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility since early Thursday morning and said he still wants to be involved in helping the program in whatever ways possible. 

See also:

The Nick Saban Legacy, Greatest of All-Time, Final Numbers at Alabama