Dec 2, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban celebrates after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Football: SEC Football Championship-Georgia at Alabama
(Tuscaloosa, AL) – On Wednesday night, the sports landscape received a jolt – Nick Saban, legendary head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, was retiring.
The man who rebuilt ‘Bama into the powerhouse it was under Bear Bryant, winner of nine SEC titles, and six national titles, is ready to call it quits. At 72-years-old, there shouldn’t be any qualms with Saban riding off into the sunset. This is a man who rose to prominence with Michigan State University, then won a national title at LSU, dabbled in the NFL, and became a legend at Alabama. But is it just age and the onset of time that has Saban leaving? Hardly.
Much has been made of the massive changes college football has experience in recent years. Players have the right to make money – legally, and within NCAA guidelines – by selling their NIL or name, image, and likeness rights. That’s anathema to an ole’ ball coach like Saban.
He likes college football the way it was: coaches were your father. Your only hope toward legit cash was the NFL, and Saban held the key. The old system empowered coaches like no other, and kept college football as an unpaid feeder “amateur” system that fed the NFL prospects.
The other major change has been the creation of the college football transfer portal. Years ago, transferring as a D-1 athlete was highly problematic. It almost always meant a player would be forced to sit out a full year, losing eligibility. Now, players enter the transfer portal all the time, and switch squads as quickly as people switch tee shirts. Saban doesn’t like that. Earlier this year on The Pat McAfee show, he compared it to the NFL’s free agency.
And two years back, Saban told the SEC Network: “My concern with the transfer, not the portal itself is the fact that players can transfer and be immediately eligible makes it really convenient and easy to think that the grass is always greener, as my dad used to say, on the top of the septic tank.”
Saban, who made over $10 million per year in his most recent contract, knows plenty about green. But he may not recognize this “new” college football. So he decided, enough is enough.
