Nick Saban breaks silence amid retirement chatter
Nick Saban has accomplished just about everything he could hope to accomplish as a coach.
In January, the Alabama coach won his sixth national championship, tying the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant atop the all-time list.
Saban has dominated one of the best conferences in football, winning the SEC seven times and being named SEC Coach of the Year four times.
His total of 223 wins in 22 years of coaching includes an incredible mark of 132-20 with the Crimson Tide — a .868 winning percentage.
Rival coaches and fans are hoping he’ll call it quits and give them a better chance at a championship.
Saban will turn 67 in October — two years past the age at which he could retire with full Social Security benefits.
But don’t count on that happening anytime soon.
In an interview with ESPN leading up to the start of Alabama’s spring practice Tuesday, Saban made it clear he plans to keep coaching for a long time.
“That’s what everybody keeps saying,” he said, “that I’m not going to be doing this for much longer, and all the people who say it have no idea what I’m going to do. …
“I’ve been involved in some fashion with football and being a part of a football team ever since I can remember. I don’t know what it would be like not doing it, and don’t want to know.”
Saban is in good health — at 180 pounds, he weighs the same as he did in college — and he’s shown no signs of slowing down.
“The way I look at it is, as long as I’m healthy and as long as I feel that I can do a good job, I want to keep doing it because I enjoy doing it,” he told ESPN. “What I don’t want to do is just stay forever, forever and forever and ride the program down where I’m not creating value. I would never want to do that, and I think I’m a long ways from doing that.
“I don’t want to talk about anybody else, but there have been a couple of coaches where their legacy was tarnished by them maybe doing it longer than they should have. That won’t be me.”
One of his contemporaries and rivals, former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, said those hoping Saban’s reign will end soon shouldn’t hold their breath.
“Nick ain’t thinking about retiring, not even close,” said Spurrier, who retired at 70 during the 2015 season. “He can go into his 70s easy, and I think he will.
“I told him he won’t retire until he loses three games in a season. He told me, ‘If I ever lose three games around here again, they might kill me.’ I think he was joking, but I’m not sure.”
As the Crimson Tide hit the field this week in preparation for another championship defense, Saban is as “invested as he’s ever been,” said senior running back Damien Harris.
“I don’t see him leaving any time soon,” Harris said.
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