Nick Saban confirms he will maintain his presence at Alabama after retirement

Since 2007, Nick Saban has patrolled the Alabama sidelines, becoming one of the most legendary college coaches to ever step on the field in the process. Now, he’s walking away and preparing to retire from the sport. However, that doesn’t mean that he won’t maintain his presence at Alabama.

Even the day after news of his retirement broke, Saban drove into the office at the same time as he normally does.

“I want to be there for the players, for the coaches, anything I can do to support them during this transition,” Saban told ESPN.

“There are a lot of things to clean up, to help as we move forward. I’m still going to have a presence here at the university in some form and trying to figure out all that and how it works. This is a place that will never be too far away from Miss Terry’s and my hearts.”

During his 17 seasons at Alabama, Nick Saban became a legend. He won nine SEC Championships and six national championships on the back of a 201-29 record during his time with the Crimson Tide. The statue has already been built for him.

Saban told his staff he was retiring shortly before the news broke on Wednesday. In total, the meeting lasted less than 10 minutes and likely changed the course of the program.

Now, while Nick Saban is going to be around Alabama and the Crimson Tide football program, he won’t be the head coach. The school turns its attention to finding a new head coach as quickly as possible with the offseason already underway. For whoever the coach is that replaces Saban, as Paul Finebaum explained, they’ll never be the same as him.

It’s just the fact that everything is different. You’re so used to seeing the G.O.A.T.. You’re so used to everything around him, the aura,” Finebaum said. “Whoever the next guy is? He’ll be good. He won’t be Nick Saban.”

Nick Saban admits health concerns played into retirement decision

There are plenty of factors that go into deciding to move on from a job and retire for anyone. Nick Saban is no different. However, one of the key factors that came into play for him were health concerns.

“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.

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