Nick Saban issues a warning to future coaches of Penn State, Florida

Two of the most prominent head-coaching jobs in college football are currently available in Penn State and Florida, and Nick Saban insists he does not have interest in either. The seven-time national champion does, however, have some advice for candidates who might receive consideration from those programs.

During a Friday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Saban was asked what prospective coaches should be looking for if they are in consideration at Florida, Penn State or other schools. He warned coaches about the importance of setting “ground rules” ahead of time.

“I think the most important thing when you take a job is how do you establish the ground rules going in?” Saban said. “You’ve got all these people giving money so that you can pay players, but does that come with them having some influence on what happens in the program and how you coach your team and how you coach the players and all that?

“When I took a job, I said this is how it’s gonna be. I’m not listening to the board of trustees. They’re not telling me who to recruit. They’re not telling me who to play, so understand that going in and go tell them before I take the job, because I’m not listening to the bulls—. I didn’t want to have to deal with that.”

Saban has admitted that the NIL era was a factor in why he retired following the 2023 season. He did not have to deal with that for very long, but top programs have always had donors, boosters and influential people. Saban said coaches need to know how to navigate that.

“You need to set the ground rules for all those things,” Saban said. “What is name, image and likeness gonna be like here? How is our administration gonna be involved? What’s the academic circumstance that you’re gonna support so that we don’t have issues when it comes to academics? Facilities are important. They’re not as important as they used to be because you could have the nicest facilities in the world but if you don’t have the money to pay players, they’re not coming. So, all of those things are factors, but I think establishing the ground rules before you get there is the most important thing.”