Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban deflected retirement rumors with veteran deftness at an Alabama Football Coaches Association clinic last month. While that’s not new – there is no positive reinforcement for coaches who tell the truth at press conferences – the coach’s reasoning should reassure Alabama fans while scaring anyone else hoping their team can edge into the four-team playoffs. The playoff committee won’t open up any spots for them.
Digging deeper into Saban’s comments, first reported by 247sports, reveals a deeper truth about the man. He actually cares about the game and feels responsible, at least in part, for its future success and viability:
Everybody asks me when I wanna retire. Retire from what? I’m gonna jump into an empty abyss, aight, of what am I going to do? Because the very challenges that I talk about and the things in our profession that concern me for you and me both, in your game and our game, that’s what keeps me going. That’s why I get up every day. That’s why I can’t sleep at night sometimes.
Whenever new safety protocols are instituted or overtime rules are tinkered with, people have predicted the death of football for spectators’ sake. We love a resilient sport that probably isn’t one Nick Saban retirement away from it all falling apart. But, tell Nick Saban that.
There’s a pattern when changes come to college football. Saban is asked about it, typically warns against how it will only take parity away from the game, then proceeds to win anywhere from one to three national championships in the next five years.
He doesn’t do this because he’s worried about changes blowing up his reserved spot in the playoffs every year. There is ample evidence to prove the theory that Nick Saban resists this kind of stuff because he actually cares about the game.
And why wouldn’t he? He’ll be listed as a legend – if not THE legend – of the sport for decades upon decades after he’s gone. Nick Saban actually cares about the game we love. And he finally admitted it.
He’s no saint, of course. He seems to be having more than a little bit of fun these days, specifically in recent midfield celebrations.
“Why would you quit doing that? I haven’t figured that out yet.”
Listen below for a larger conversation on Saban’s recent retirement comments with the Throw The Flag podcast.
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