SEC INSIDER

Nick Saban on retirement: ‘Retire from what?’

Field Level Media

February 22, 2022 at 12:30 am.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban deals with his share of retirement speculation, and with good reason. The coach has reached the mountaintop on multiple occasions and turned 70 on Oct. 31 of last year.

But the seven-time national championship winner and two-time AP National Coach of the Year doesn’t see retirement as being a short-term option, as he delivered in comments to the Alabama Football Coaches Association Jan. 27, which were briefly posted to Twitter before being taken down Monday.

“Everybody asks me when I wanna retire. Retire from what?” Saban said. “I’m gonna jump into an empty abyss … of what am I going to do? Because the very challenges that I talk about and the things in our profession that concern me — for you and for me both, in your game and our game — that’s what keeps me going.

“That’s why I get up every day. That’s why I can’t sleep at night sometimes.”

Saban has compiled a 274-67-1 record over 26 seasons as a head coach. His 15-year run at Alabama has produced a 183-25 record and six of his seven national titles.

The Crimson Tide most recently lost to Georgia 33-18 in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 10.