Alabama Coach Nick Saban Reveals Thoughts on Retirement

Getty Nick Saban at The Masters golf tournament in 2022.

Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach Nick Saban isn’t ready to spend his days on the golf course. The 70-year-old opened up about whether he plans on retiring anytime soon during an interview on August 12 on The Dan Patrick Show.

“I don’t really think about retiring. I always think about what the heck am I going to do if I do retire. That’s the scary thought,” Saban told Patrick. “I don’t know if that’s hard for people to understand. There’s nothing that I want to do, like some people want to go to Europe or go to Scotland to play golf, and all that. I wouldn’t mind doing all that stuff, but I don’t have to quit my job to do it.”

Saban added, “I worry about, ‘What am I going to do if I don’t do this?’ I don’t mean play golf or whatever. How are you going to get any positive self-gratification and feeling of accomplishment when you’ve done something so long that you like so much and then all of a sudden it’s not there.”

Saban has often shot down speculation about when he might retire. In July, he told the SEC Network during the conference’s media day, “I love my job. I love the relationships with the players. I love the competition, I love the preparation for the games and I just love it, you know?

The Alabama football coach added, “I wish you all would ask all the other coaches that come up here, because they tell all the recruits I’m going to retire. Why don’t you ask them how they know I’m going to retire? When all I think about is what am I going to do if I retire? Because I love what I’m doing now so how am I going to be happy not doing it?”

Saban Said He Hasn’t Been Tempted to Leave Alabama

During his interview on The Dan Patrick Show, the host also asked Saban if he has thought about moving to a new job. Saban told Patrick, “I’ve never been tempted to leave Alabama. … We all have journeys in life and you find out about yourself a little more in each choice and each decision you make along the way.”

Saban said his ultimate goal was to be a head coach in the NFL, and “once I got there I said, ‘You know I enjoyed the college game a lot because I love the development of players – personally, academically, athletically – a lot of positive self-gratification in all that. So, when I got the opportunity to come to Alabama I was like, ‘This is it for me.'”

Patrick also asked Saban, if he or New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick will retire first. Saban responded, “That’s a hypothetical question that I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer. I don’t know what his feelings are, so I can’t really speak for him. But I’m really committed to the grind.”

Tide Safety Jordan Battle Said Saban Has ‘Been Laughing a Lot’

Crimson Tide safety Jordan Battle told reporters on August 12 that Saban, “has been laughing a lot. … I’ve been liking his energy lately. … He’s just in a good mood, you know? … I wish everybody could get to see how he really is everyday.”

The topic of Saban’s sense of humor also came up during his interview with Patrick. The radio host asked Saban when the last time something football-related made him laugh or smile, and the Tide coach responded, “I think it happens a lot. I think that sometimes people just don’t see it. I guess I’m pretty serious about what I do.

Saban added, “Most people who have any kind of level of success, whether it’s players, coaches or whatever, they sort of enjoy the process they have to do to actually have success. So, I enjoy what I do. Maybe I don’t laugh about it a lot. When I’m away from it I laugh quite a bit, probably as much as anybody.”