Nick Saban's stunning retirement from the Alabama Crimson Tide is still being felt around the college football world on the eve of opening weekend. It'll be strange to not see the best coach in the sport's history roaming and scowling on the sideline this fall.
Saban has given some insight on what caused him to retire, but he gave former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer a deeper reveal of what bothered him in the last few years. On The Triple Option Show , Saban said he no longer had the time to connect with his players after the landscape changed with the transfer portal.
Saban lamented how recent legislation has limited the available time that coaches with recruiting power can spend with their team. He said it's now more necessary than ever for him to get face-to-face time with athletes in order to create a connection with them beyond coaching time. The cost of not doing so leads to more transfers because they don't have time to set the culture of a winning program with bought-in players.
Saban said players are now free agents twice a year, and the allowance of both spring and summer visits has been harmful to the sport. He said this is a loss of "sacred times" that were almost like another internal recruiting period. Now, it's up to the strength coach to do more than the head coach in that regard.
Previously, Saban talked about how NIL and player attitudes contributed to his retirement.
"I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I'm going to play because they're thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?," Saban told ESPN . "Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.
Under Saban's leadership, Alabama clinched six championships between 2007 and 2023. FOX Sports Research highlights that Alabama led in producing a top number of NFL players from the 2008 draft onwards, with a sport-high 123 NFL players. LSU, with 112 players, and Ohio State, with 104, follow Alabama in terms of player production during this period.
Before Saban established his empire in Tuscaloosa, he was at the helm for the Toledo team in 1990, and he also coached Michigan State from 1995 to 1999 and LSU from 2000 to 2004. His NFL experience includes working as the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns under Bill Belichick from 1991 to 1994 and leading the Miami Dolphins as head coach from 2005 to 2006.
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