HBO binges, sending his first email, grocery shopping among ways Saban is taking it easier in retirement

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban is beginning to settle into retirement, according to a new article from ESPN’s Chris Low.

Low has become somewhat of a biographer for Saban since the legendary head coach decided to hang things up. He chronicled stories from former coaches and the inside scoop on how Greg Byrne pivoted to Kalen DeBoer in less than 48 hours.

But the latest piece from Low goes in depth on how Saban is spending his days as he begins to ease into retirement mode and how his entire family has seen his stress level decrease.

The day after Saban retired, his wife, Miss Terry provided him with a note on the ‘ten commandments of retirement.’

While she did not divulge them all in the article, among them were the general sentiment of slowing down. Slowing down while eating at the dinner table, slowing down while doing day-to-day tasks.

“The biggest change for me as a person is that I lived my whole life for the last 50 years being in a hurry,” Saban told ESPN.

“It was, ‘Hurry up to go here. Hurry up to go there. Don’t be late for this meeting. You’ve got another meeting in an hour…I mean, it was just deadline after deadline after deadline. Even when I was driving to the lake to go on vacation, I’d be in a hurry, and for what? But that’s just how you were built.”

Another fascinating and hilarious to picture aspect is Miss Terry enrolling Nick in her own version of a ‘Tech 101’ class.

“He’s actually texting and reading his own emails and sent his first-ever email,” she told ESPN. “He even took his first trip to the pharmacy to pick up his first prescription. He’s actually quite proud of himself.”

Saban is trying to keep as busy as possible, saying that while he does enjoy having more time, he isn’t using it to just sit at home.

“I can’t stand sitting around now any more than I could stand it when I was coaching,” Saban said. “I want to stay busy…I do speaking stuff. I’ve got my TV job now with ESPN. I like to play golf. I’ve got tons of stuff to do. So I’m not retiring to quit working.”

Low revealed in the article that while Saban isn’t simply sitting at home watching TV for hours a day, he is, shockingly, a big fan of the HBO program ‘Game of Thrones’.

According to his daughter Kristen, her dad is in a relaxed state that the family has not really seen him in before now that he is out of coaching.

“It’s really nice to see him not have this big stressful thing hanging over him. He’s accomplished so much that I don’t think he feels like he’s leaving anything behind. He’s leaving with no regrets and stepping away with a lot of gratitude and a lot of relief at the same time,” she said.

“He’s in a relaxed state of mind that I haven’t really seen him in, and it kind of puts everybody else at peace too.”

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP