Kirby Smart on if Nick Saban could return to coaching: 'That's not happening'

Kirby Smart was pretty emphatic about a potential Nick Saban return to coaching. Simply put, Smart said it’s not happening.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy, who played for Saban at Alabama, reported that someone close to the situation believed Saban could return to the sidelines. However, McElroy and other pundits like Paul Finebaum couldn’t see it happening.

Smart, who worked for Saban before becoming the head coach at Georgia, knows him quite well. So taking Smart’s word for it, it looks like Saban will stay retired.

“That’s not happening, I don’t think Nick’s coming back,” Smart said on Tuesday July 15 at SEC Media Days. “I think he’s too happy where he is. I think y’all are lacking buzz and they needed some buzz yesterday. That was the only thing that could generate some buzz besides Lane and Hugh (Freeze) feud over the internet. There’s just not a lot there.”

McElroy brought up the idea during an interview on the show with Paul Finebaum. Saban currently works as an analyst for ESPN, but is not part of SEC Network’s coverage of SEC Media Days in Atlanta and is not in attendance this week.

McElroy pointed out it was someone “notable” who told him they think Saban isn’t necessarily done coaching. In fact, he said the person was “adamant.”

“This is a little bit out of left field, but the question was asked of me … a very much in the know person that I have a lot of respect for and have spent a lot of time around and just really, really admire,” McElroy said. “They seem to think Nick Saban’s not done coaching. I had a similar reaction. He’s pretty adamant that he thinks Nick Saban will be coaching again. … Look, if it wasn’t someone notable, I’d never say a word.”

Saban retired with a record of 292-71-1 and seven national championships. He was the head coach at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama in his career. Saban also had a brief stint with the Cleveland Browns as the DC under Bill Belichick.

“As much as I would love to have turned SEC Media Days upside down and said to Greg, ‘I’ve heard the same thing,’ I told Greg I was with somebody,” Finebaum said during SEC Media Days. “I was walking around somebody the other day, let me put it that way, who’s around Saban a lot, not in the state of Alabama, but in Florida. And he described to me what I’m sure you’ve heard many times, and you’ve heard, you know Nick very well, is that he’s having the time of life. 

“He’s playing at better golf clubs than he’s ever played at and that will continue, because everybody wants Nick Saban to be in their golf club. He’s making a fortune when he decides he wants to make a speech. He’s making a fortune when he shows up on ESPN once a week. And why would you give all that up at the age of 74? Don’t ask me how I know about things like that, but I hang around a lot of people who are turning 70, and it makes no sense, except that Nick Saban is the most competitive human being. And maybe if somebody said, ‘Coach, listen, Pete Carroll, same age, $10-15 million we’ll give you this, we’ll give you that.’”