Nick Saban is leaving Alabama because of old age and the “mental grind.” This comes at a time when college football is changing.
Nick Saban is finally leaving his job as a college coach after 28 years, with the last 17 years being at Alabama. Saban, who is 72 years old, never got tired of playing football.
He just led Alabama to a 16th straight season of at least 10 wins and its third SEC title in the last four years. However, the current schedule got too much for him to handle.
When asked about a good time, Saban said, “I don’t think there is one, especially when you’re a coach.” “Because when you’re a coach, you believe you’ll always be a coach.”
In fact, I thought that my age was starting to be a bit about an issue when choosing teachers and players. It got more and more difficult for me to tell people the truth when they asked if I was going to stay here for three, five, or whatever years.
“And to be completely honest, the last season was really hard. Our journey from where we began to where we are now was very hard. It was harder on me than usual.
Because of those two situations, I thought that maybe now was the right time to make a promise to do that later on the way I think I need to do it.
Before making the final choice, Saban did what they normally did. On the day he retired, he did his normal work and talked to potential assistant trainers. However, he had a sudden insight five minutes before the 4 p.m. team meeting.
“The thing that made it harder for me is, I felt including it might be the right opportunity for me but how it touched the players, the coaches, every the people who work there in the building while contributed to the accomplishments of the team, how would it affect them,” said Saban.
“That was tough. That was the element that I kept going back and forth on… It was 3:55 in the evening.
I was sitting to my chair and looking at the time. It said, “Five minutes to choose which speech you will give.”
Saban still ends his coaching career on a high note by leaving now. He leaves behind one of the best jobs he has ever had. In the following week of the season, Alabama lost by a score of ten at home to Texas.
Then, quarterback Jalen Milroe was taken out of the game before Week 3’s 17-3 win over South Florida, which wasn’t very impressive. This caused the Crimson Tide to fall out of the top 10 of the AP poll for the first time since 2015.
After that, though, the season changed. Alabama got back on track, in large part because Milroe improved in the middle of the season.
In his last six games, he had 17 scores and only two mistakes, and Alabama finished the regular season 8-0 in SEC play.
That put the Tide in the SEC Championship Game, where they beat top-ranked Georgia and gave them their first loss since 2021.
It was his age that made the decision, the 72-year-old told Rece Davis for “SportsCenter” on Thursday. The “mental grind” in this season was hard on him, but he almost went back.
Saban stated that he interviewed teachers and possible new employees on Tuesday, just like any other day.
He told his team his departure was leaving, though, at a meeting on Wednesday at 4 p.m. He wasn’t sure which way his address would go at 3:55 p.m.
“I just have an extremely high standard for the way I do things, and when I don’t feel like I’m living according to that standard, I’m disappointed,” said Saban. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t agree with his most recent effort.
Alabama had a rough start to the 2023 season, but by the end they were 8-0 in the SEC, won the conference title, and made their way to the College Football Playoff.
This was the first time in Saban’s career that his team had not won a national title in three years in a row. They lost to No. 1 Michigan within overtime in the Rose Bowl.
Saturday, Saban joined a call over SEC head football coaches. That night, he gave his last speech to his team.
That series of events led to rumors that he didn’t like how college football was changing because of NIL and other events.
Saban agreed that some individuals are unhappy with some parts of modern college football, but he also said that he was able to handle the changes.
During the NIL era, he changed and had some success. Besides everything else, he knew it was time for him to turn over the keys.