He arrived in 2007 with brown hair, energy, a disciplined mindset, and one mission.
Nick Saban came to the University of Alabama to give Crimson Tide fans a program it could be proud of. He exceeded expectations on so many levels and leaves as the greatest head coach in college football. The 72-year-old made sure his former student, Kirby Smart, did not lead Georgia to three-peat as College Football Playoff National Champions on his watch.
RELATED: WATCH: Nick Saban arrives at Mal Moore Athletic Facility the morning after announcing retirement
He took a 2023 version of Alabama football and helped it overachieve. Coach Saban and his family meant a lot to Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama as a whole, but he unveiled his reason for retiring to one person. ESPN’s Chris Low spent Thursday morning with Coach Saban at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility hours after he stunned the world with his retirement decision on Wednesday.
Saban would have loved to give another season to the Tide; however, he cited age as the reason he’s stepping away.
The long hours caught up to the greatest to ever do it.
“Last season was difficult for me from just a health standpoint, not necessarily having anything major wrong, but just being able to sustain and do things the way I want to do them, the way I’ve always done them,” Saban said to Low. “It just got a little bit harder. So you have to decide, ‘OK, this is sort of inevitable when you get to my age.'”
Saban has always said if it reached a point where he could not affect players the way he used to, he would step away because he never wants to bring the program down. He told Low it would be ‘unfair’ to have everyone think he would coach Alabama for four to five more years.
“Which I would have been happy to try to do, but I just didn’t feel like I could do that and didn’t want to get into a year-to-year deal that doesn’t help anybody and doesn’t help you continue to build and be at the standard that I want to be at and want this program to be at,” Saban said.
RELATED: Nick Saban wants to help Alabama coaches, players during his retirement transition
Everything has now been put into perspective. No one wanted Saban to go, but he believed it was time and it was on his terms.
He did not win a national championship in his last three seasons, yet he took Alabama to a CFP National Championship Game in 2021, captured two SEC Championships in 2021 and 2023, returned to the CFP for an eighth time in 2023, crowned a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback (Bryce Young) in 2021, and earned an Allstate Sugar Bowl victory over Kansas State in 2022.
He still plans to support Alabama in his transition, but Saban will always be appreciated.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
