Greg Byrne elaborates on Nick Saban's post-retirement role with Alabama Football

Even with the announcement of his retirement, Nick Saban is not going away. Just one day after the news broke, the former Alabama head coach was back at Mal Moore early in the morning. It’s not in his nature to completely shut things down and potentially leave athletic director Greg Byrne out to dry.

Saban is still going to be working with Byrne, getting an office in Bryant-Denny Stadium. For now, the goal is to help newly hired head coach Kalen DeBoer get through the transition period smoothly. A tough thing to navigate with a ton of moving parts and the NCAA transfer portal currently open.

Roster retention is incredibly important, with Saban attempting to assist. After all, he was the one to recruit the players to Tuscaloosa.

“He has an office down the street at Bryant-Denny,” Byrne said during a Tuesday appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show. “He is going to be an advisor for us. He’s been awesome… He and I talked this morning. He’s been very helpful trying to talk to the young men that he’s recruited here and say ‘We’re in a really good spot moving forward.’ He’ll continue to be here and be part of our program. And we’re very happy for that.”

When someone has been in charge for 17 years, watching them step away is always going to be a tough blow. Add in the success Saban had — winning nine SEC titles and six national championships — and the standard will be tough to maintain.

DeBoer himself wants to make sure Saban is still around the program, checking in every once in a while. He believes not giving Saban access would make him a “fool” and will accept all feedback.

“I’ve been in his ear a couple of times already here. … and 100 percent access to everything,” DeBoer said during his introductory press conference. “I would be a fool if that wasn’t the case. I would be a fool.

“I’m going to ask him that he shows up and make sure he gives me at least one thing every day,” DeBoer said. “I’m sure he’s going to have 10, but I’m going to be good with that. But at least one thing that he sees that we can get better at.”

Nick Saban helped Greg Byrne during Alabama coaching search

DeBoer may not have been selected for the job had it not been for Saban. He worked alongside Byrne in the coaching search, giving his opinion from a football perspective. Byrne likely did background research on DeBoer as a person, even giving credit to his wife Regina.

But he knew if anyone was going to give the best advice about a football coach, it was going to be Saban. A nice beginning to his role as an advisor to the program.

“He and I talked during the coaching search,” Byrne said. “Somebody asked me if he was involved — I was like — I’m not very smart, many people know that. But I’m smart enough to know when you have a chance to have Nick Saban involved with talking about coaching and football and decision making and leadership, shame on me if I don’t take advantage of that.”