Saban all set to support Alabama in shift

• Chris Low, ESPN Senior WriterJan 11, 2024, 11:22 AM ET

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  • College football reporter
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

On the very first day of his retirement in the wake of a legendary training profession, Nick Saban was still believing group first.He wasn’t

playing golf, preparing a getaway or perhaps sleeping in for an additional hour. Like every other morning for the past 17 years as Alabama’s football coach, he was driving to the office– always there by 7:20 a.m. sharp at the current.

“I want to be there for the players, for the coaches, anything I can do to support them during this transition,” Saban told ESPN in his first public remarks considering that retiring Wednesday, a relocation that reverberated throughout the sports world and shocked even those who were closest to him within the Alabama program.

“There are a great deal of things to clean up, to help as we progress. I’m still going to have a presence here at the university in some type and attempting to determine all that and how it works. This is a place that will never ever be too far away from Miss Terry’s and my hearts.”

Saban notified his staff and players that he was retiring during a 4 p.m. meeting in the group room Wednesday. It wasn’t a long conference, less than 10 minutes, and Saban stated it was very important to him that they hear the news first from him.

“I wanted them to understand just how much they implied to me,” stated Saban, who won 6 championship games at Alabama and another one at LSU. “It was hard, all of it was. The last few days have actually been hard. However appearance, it’s sort of like I told the players. I was going to go in there and ask them to get one hundred percent devoted to coming back and attempting to win a champion, but I’ve always said that I didn’t wish to ride the program down, and I felt whether it was recruiting or hiring coaches, now that we have people leaving, the same old problem constantly sort of turned up– how long are you going to do this for?”

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Jeff Allen, Alabama’s head athletic fitness instructor, has been with Saban all 17 years. He’s the last football team member staying that Saban employed from the outdoors when Saban took the task at Alabama in 2007. Allen was emotional Thursday even talking about Saban’s retirement.

“This is one of those days you knew was going to come, however when it does, you’re still rather in shock that it finally has come,” Allen said. “I don’t want to state it was a grieving process, due to the fact that he’s still here, but what’s assisted us process all of it is how he’s managed it. He remains in the office today and wants to still be a part of this location. It was special for me this morning when I was with him, simply hearing him speak about how crucial it was for him for Alabama to continue to succeed. That indicates the world to everyone who are here and love this place and want to see what he’s developed continue to grow.”

Saban, 72, stated his age made it significantly harder for him to do the job the method he required of himself that it must be done. He told ESPN last month that 14-hour days were a lot harder to navigate at 72 than they were at 62 and repeated that on Thursday.

“Last season was challenging for me from simply a health perspective, not necessarily having anything major incorrect, however just being able to sustain and do things the way I want to do them, the way I’ve always done them,” Saban stated. “It just got a bit harder. So you need to choose, ‘OK, this is sort of unavoidable when you get to my age.'”

Saban included that it would have been unfair to everybody to keep saying that he was going to be at Alabama for 4 or 5 more years.

“Which I would have mored than happy to try to do, however I simply didn’t feel like I could do that and didn’t want to enter a year-to-year offer that does not assist any person and doesn’t help you continue to build and be at the requirement that I want to be at and want this program to be at,” Saban said.At no time did Saban think about downsizing his obligations or transitioning into more of a CEO role as a head coach. He’s renowned for being hands-on in whatever that touches his program. He said he completed his decision to retire after returning from a trip to his home in Florida with his wife, Terry, last weekend. Saban was still speaking with possible assistant coaches by means of Zoom on Tuesday and Wednesday. In reality, he was talking with a potential receivers coach about an hour before informing the team that he was retiring.

“It’s the method I have actually always done things,” Saban stated. “You keep working right up until it’s time to leave. I think when you get away from doing what you’ve constantly done, you’re never going to be as efficient. Which’s just sort of it. I understood it was time.”

Saban has actually revealed ridicule over the past few years for the absence of uniformity in college football, specifically regarding NIL being utilized as a guise for pay-for-play and the transfer website and all the tampering that has accompanied players moving from school to school.Saban was insistent, though, that the altering landscape in college football was not the reason he was leaving.

“Don’t make it about that. It’s not about that,” Saban stated. “To me, if you choose to coach, you don’t require to be grumbling about all that things. You need to adapt to it and adjust to it and do the very best you can under the scenarios and not complain about it. Now, I believe everybody is disappointed about it. We had an SEC conference call, 14 coaches on there [Wednesday], and there’s not one guy you can talk to who actually comprehends what’s happening in college football and thinks that it’s not a concern.

“However [his retirement] ain’t about that. We’ve remained in this period for 3 years now, and we’ve adjusted to it and won in this era, too. It’s simply that I’ve always understood when it would be time to turn it over to somebody else, and this is that time.”

Saban, who loves playing golf, has actually made it a point to never ever play during the season other than for perhaps during the open week. He made his very first hole-in-one during the open date before the LSU game in 2016. Now that he’s retired, Saban pushed back on the notion that he ‘d be able to get his handicap down under 5.

“I don’t believe that’s going to happen, but we’ll be able to play more than we utilized to,” he stated with a laugh.Over the years, Saban has joked”What the hell else am I going to do? “whenever he was inquired about retiring from training. His late dad was a Pop Warner coach in their Monongah, West Virginia, community, and Saban broke into the training ranks in 1973 as a graduate assistant at Kent State under Don James.But now that he is retiring after thirty years as a head coach in the college and NFL ranks, Saban said, “There’s a lot I can do and a lot I wish to do,” adding that it was very important to him that he still had the lifestyle remaining to do all of those things after he stopped training.

“There’s life after football, but I’m always going to be here for Alabama however they require me,” Saban said.Allen fulfilled independently with Saban on Thursday morning and stated his long time boss paused briefly before informing Allen how much he had suggested to him. “But he’s been doing that all early morning with everyone, actually walking and thanking individuals,”Allen said.”Among our custodians came up to me and said how much she was going to miss him and miss cleaning his workplace and how well he had actually treated her. Individuals do not always see that side of him. However all this being stated, we likewise understand what he wants us to do is to move on in properly and help the new coach to continue to succeed, and that’s the method we can best honor Coach Saban.”