Nick Saban admits health concerns played into retirement decision

Following his retirement on Wednesday, Nick Saban admitted to ESPN’s Chris Low that some health concerns did play a factor in his decision to call it quits.

“Last season was difficult for me from just a health standpoint, not necessarily having anything major wrong, but just being able to sustain and do things the way I want to do them, the way I’ve always done them,” Saban said, according to Low’s story on ESPN.

“It just got a little bit harder,” he continued. “So you have to decide, ‘OK, this is sort of inevitable when you get to my age.'”

Per Low, the elder Alabama coach found it much tougher to grind through the day-to-day of running a program at the absolute highest level.

“Saban, 72, said his age made it increasingly more difficult for him to do the job the way he demanded of himself that it should be done,” wrote Low. “He told ESPN last month that 14-hour days were a lot harder to navigate at 72 than they were at 62 and reiterated that Thursday.”

As part of the story, Saban went on to comment that the uncertainty ultimately helped him make the decision to hang it up for good rather than coach a few more years.

“Which I would have been happy to try to do,” says Saban. “But I just didn’t feel like I could do that and didn’t want to get into a year-to-year deal that doesn’t help anybody and doesn’t help you continue to build and be at the standard that I want to be at and want this program to be at.”

Low added in his piece that while Nick Saban will likely help oversee the transition and provide whatever services he needs to help that process, there’s no scenario where Saban remains a part of the staff in any capacity, even in a lesser role.

“At no time did Saban consider scaling back his responsibilities or transitioning into more of a CEO role as a head coach,” reports Low. “He’s renowned for being hands-on in everything that touches his program.”

In fact, up until the moment he decided to retire, Saban was still working on the staff for next season, just in case.

“Saban was still interviewing potential assistant coaches via Zoom on Tuesday and Wednesday,” added Low. “In fact, he was talking with a potential receivers coach about an hour before telling the team that he was retiring.”

That’s just how he operates, though.

“It’s the way I’ve always done things,” Saban said to Low. “You keep working right up until it’s time to walk away. I think when you get away from doing what you’ve always done, you’re never going to be as effective. And that’s just sort of it. I knew it was time.”

Hopefully, it’s nothing but happy trails and healthy days ahead for Nick Saban.