Nick Saban says he’s not retired, and he’s right

Nick Saban hasn’t coached college football since the 2023 season. As a college football coach, he’s retired.

One would imagine that most college football programs in the country would gladly help him unretire, and there might even be NFL organizations that wouldn’t mind giving the 74-year-old another shot as well. 

Saban clearly doesn’t see things the way the rest of us do, though. He never has, and that’s part of what made him elite as a college football coach.

He’s still a working man, so as far as he sees it, he’s not sitting around drinking mimosas and enjoying retirement.

He still has a job, as a football analyst for ESPN, and he enjoys what he’s up to in his career after his career.

“I didn’t retire totally,” Saban told Paul Finebaum on Wednesday (h/t On3). “I just retired from coaching. I really enjoy working with ESPN, doing the draft, doing ‘GameDay.’ I do quite a bit of speaking. I’ve got a lot of time to do other things that I would never have time to do otherwise. So I miss coaching a little bit. I miss the relationships with the players, I miss the competition. But it’s a trade-off.”

It sounds like the trade-off is worth it for Saban, but one can’t help but notice that he says he misses coaching “a little bit.”

Could Nick Saban return to college football?