Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban shocked the college football world when he suddenly announced his retirement back in January, but it sounds like Saban knew he was approaching retirement age and had been at least considering it behind closed doors for a while.
During a recent interview with ESPN, Nick Saban revealed that he actually talked to Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne after the 2022 season to indicate that he was nearing the end of his coaching career.
“Greg, this is getting more and more difficult on me,” Saban told Byrne according to ESPN. “I’m not ready to do it now, but we’re going to have to start evaluating this more on a year-to-year basis.”
While it was a tough decision to make this offseason, Saban and his wife seemed to think that it was time for him to walk away.
“I don’t know if there’s ever a good time to do it,” Saban said according to ESPN. “I felt like my age was starting to impact a lot of things. The older you get, the harder it is to sustain it at the level you want to and feel like you’re doing a great job.”
Saban ultimately chose to walk away back in January and will now take over as an analyst with ESPN on the College GameDay pregame show.
[ESPN]
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