Rece Davis explains why Nick Saban decided now to retire at Alabama

Nick Saban’s abrupt retirement caught the entire sports world by surprise.

Right when the almighty Alabama empire seemed to get back its swagger following a run to the College Football Playoff semifinal, Saban will ride off into retirement as the arguably greatest college football coach to have ever lived.

ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis explained why this was the right time for Saban, now 72, to call it quits after his enjoyment of the 2023-24 season.

“I felt like he got a great deal of satisfaction out of coaching this team,” Davis said during an appearance on SportsCenter. “There have been times at Alabama because of the dynasty — which I believe to be the greatest in the history of the sport — I think it has been frustrating to him because people become complacent. They take things for granted, because they operate like regular human beings, which he often does not, you know, in terms of being continually driven, continually in the moment, never being complacent.

“I believe this team, because it had a lot of room to grow, was very satisfying to him. And I certainly believe it was one of his best coaching jobs to take his team, make them the SEC Champion, get them into the playoff, be a play or two away from getting into the national championship game. So I believe there was a certain sense of he was confident, relaxed, happy with the progress that his team had made.”

Saban took an Alabama team that everyone wrote off after losing to Texas in Tuscaloosa in September, which was followed up by an upset scare by USF on a neutral site. After that game, the Crimson Tide were back in business and playing like the Nick Saban teams of the 2010s.

Of course, Saban has tried to adapt with the ever-changing college football market. And for the most part, he has succeeded tremendously while also turning just about every player that has crossed his path into a better man along the way.

“He’s been a lot different the last several years than he was, say, when I first met him when he got the job at Michigan State [in 1995],” Davis continued. “People do that. They change over a period of time. And I think his appetite to learn, his appetite to be able to relate to the players to try to get the most out of them, to help them become the best versions of themselves on and off the field.

“I’m not sure that anyone had done it at a level that high over this period of time, as he has during this time of Alabama.”

Now, the Crimson Tide will begin their search for a new head football coach to succeed arguably the greatest head coach in college football history. According to AD Greg Byrne, the next time he speaks publicly will be to announce the new Alabama headman.