Nick Saban addresses concerns about his future at Alabama

Alabama‘s season is over and for the first time ever under coach Nick Saban the Crimson Tide have gone three seasons without winning a national title.

Given the increased difficulty in winning it all and the more competitive landscape in college football as the dynamics have changed thanks to the transfer portal and NIL, many are wondering if Saban might be close to hanging up the whistle and calling it a career.

Why?

“Well because I’m getting old, I guess,” Saban said on the Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, shooting down any idea that he’s getting ready to retire.

Instead, Saban has a new tactic for countering the annual ‘will he retire’ narrative.

“Look, I ask everybody that asks me that question, ‘Are you going to be here for four years?'” Saban said. “Some players ask me when you’re going to retire, I’ve looked at them and say, ‘Well can you guarantee me that you’re going to be here for four years?’ and they looked at me like ‘Hell no I’m not.'”

There’s no doubt the current landscape in college football has proven difficult. For one, it’s made this time of the year a nightmare for college coaches.

They’re having to juggle first bowl preparations, then the early signing period, while simultaneously managing the transfer portal both ways — players coming and going.

Saban acknowledged those changes.

“And I just think it’s the way of the world now, that college football has changed dramatically, especially in the last three or four years,” Saban said. “Roster management, guys getting in the portal, pay for play is definitely alive and well. I mean name, image and likeness has really become pay for play.”

Saban has an abundance of thoughts on that and how to fix it, most of which involve getting a standardized set of rules that apply across the board, whether that’s in NIL or the transfer portal.

Regardless, though, Nick Saban appears perfectly willing to manage all the ebbs and flows of the modern college football landscape as they go in the meantime.