Caleb Downs, Malachi Moore were 'most difficult' players for Nick Saban to share retirement with

There wasn’t a single easy goodbye for Nick Saban as he informed his Alabama team he was retiring from coaching football. But there were certainly some that were more difficult.

It’s no secret that Saban is a defensive-minded coach — it’s his background as an assistant before he became a head coach — and specifically loves to coach defensive backs. It’s also the position he played in college.

So naturally it was a pair of defensive backs — freshman Caleb Downs and senior Malachi Moore — who were two of the hardest players to share the decision with.

“I love all the players, but there’re some players — I mean you’re human — that you have special relationships with. And I spend more time with the defensive guys and I spend more time with the defensive backs, so when a lot of the players came up, Malachi Moore and Caleb Downs, Malachi’s one of the captains on the team. Caleb is a young guy that has all the right stuff and does everything exactly like you’d want him. Is a tremendous competitor, both guys. Those two guys were probably the most difficult,” Saban said in an interview with Rece Davis on ESPN.

He shared what his parting message was to the pair, remarking that he won’t be going terribly far away even if he won’t be their coach.

“I encouraged them to continue to do the things that they’ve always done to be successful. And one of the things I encouraged the team to do was, you guys all need to play for each other. They’ll hire a really good coach here, you’ll have good coaches. You’ll learn more things from more, different people that can enhance your development and you guys gotta in that and believe in that and play for each other and I’m going to be here,” Saban said. “I’m going to be here for you, I’m going to have a presence. I’m going to stay in Tuscaloosa. They’re giving me an office in the stadium. And I said, ‘I can get on your butt from there just like I can from on the field.'”

Saban explained what his message to his replacement will be

Whoever winds up being the next head coach for Alabama will be taking over Saban’s program and hoping to have similar success. While six national championships in 17 seasons is unlikely, the Tide will want to keep on rolling.

During his sit-down interview with ESPN’s Rece Davis, Saban was asked what advice he would give to the next head coach. Saban talked about taking advantage of all the great people Alabama has. Not just in the football program but around the University as well, with everyone having the goal of helping players develop in the right way.

“I think there is a great team of people here,” Saban said. “We get great cooperation in the University community. We’ve had great graduation rates. We’ve got really good personal development programs and great people who help guide players in a way that they have a better chance of being successful.”

The development of players under Saban is well documented. He suffered just 29 losses at Alabama while having 44 first-round picks in the NFL Draft. Players would come into Tuscaloosa as some of the best high school prospects and three to four years later, be considered some of the best players available in the draft.

“Creating value” for players has always been one of Saban’s themes. While the NFL is where most of that value is cashed in, life after football has been a big success for former Alabama players. Saban once again credited to people around the program for making it all happen.

“We’ve done a really good job of developing players and we’ve had a lot of really good coaches,” Saban said. “And we’ve had a lot of really good players. I think it’s because we have a team of people who are dedicated to creating value to players.”