During SEC Media Days last week in Atlanta, the story that took over the event on the first day was a second-hand rumor about former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban having interest in returning to coaching.
Virtually every coach was asked about it and all week, pundits and insiders debated whether he could actually have any sort of interest in coming back.
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During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Friday however, Saban spoke on it for the first time publicly, and he certainly did not sound like he had any intention of strolling the sidelines again anytime soon.
“I’m really happy with what I’m doing right now and it’s exciting to still be involved in the game,” Saban began. “It’s exciting for me to work with athletic directors, conference commissioners, people in Congress to preserve the integrity of our game and continue to be able to create opportunities to help young people create value for their futures that will help them be successful in life, which is what we always tried to do as a coach.”
The interviewer doubled down and asked Saban if he is shutting the door or would be open if the right opportunity came along, which is when Saban doubled down.
“There is no opportunity that I know of right now that would [entice] me to go back to coaching,” he said firmly. “I enjoy what I’m doing, I did it for 50 years, I loved the relationships with players, I love the competition, but it’s another station of life right now and I love what I’m doing and spending more time with my children and grandchildren. It’s been really really good.”
The GOAT did keep it lighthearted with a hilarious story from last week when he was doing his chores handed by Miss Terry, and how they made him miss the coaching game.
“I never really had a thought about getting back into coaching until two days ago,” he said. “Miss Terry said I had to run the sweeper in the entire downstairs. While I was running the sweeper, the thought occurred to me, when you were a coach, you had a heck of a lot better job than this.”
So unless Miss Terry starts doubling and tripling down on Saban’s to-do list, don’t count on him coming back to coaching anytime soon.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
