Nick Saban reveals what he misses most about coaching

Friday will mark the four-month anniversary of Nick Saban retiring. The Alabama head coach decided to step away from college football after 17 seasons and six national championships in Tuscaloosa. Saban has remained pretty busy since then, with his latest event being the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham.

As fun as playing golf or appearing on ESPN has been for Saban, there are still aspects to coaching he already misses. One sticks out more than the others though, saying the relationships he can build with players mean more than anything. Saban still knows the majority of Alabama’s roster but as the years pass, his players will be out of the program.

But just a few months in, he already misses connecting with those guys.

“Relationships with players,” Saban said. “I actually played golf with Mark Ingram and Tua (Tagovailoa). Had them up on Monday. Those relationships you have with players, man. There’s nothing that beats that. But we care about them all. So, we’re going to continue with the relationships.”

Saban says both Ingram and Tagovailoa hit the ball well, even citing the Miami Dolphins quarterback as a pretty good putter. Based on the famous stories of the basketball league, Tagovailoa is exactly the type of guy Saban would want in a scramble if playing in a tournament.

In the final years of his career, Saban began to really open up about some of the relationships he had with players. Seemingly every season, it was somebody new, and stories about funny moments with Saban, or what everyone meant to each other would be told to the media.

Saban has spoken highly of the entire 2020 national championship-winning team, talking about the resilience required during COVID-19. From the time spring practice got shut down until the confetti fell from the sky in Miami.

Bryce Young and Will Anderson eventually took over as leaders. When they decided to play in the 2022 Sugar Bowl despite being draft-eligible and having nothing to play for, Saban was more than complimentary of those two.

This past season, Jalen Milroe grew a bond with Saban as the season went along. Even through the retirement announcement, the quarterback and coach remain close. Terrion Arnold is close with Miss Terry, virtually becoming a part of the Saban family.

Saban will certainly keep up with all these guys, just not on the football field. Maybe if their golf game improves in the coming years, they can catch up.