Nick Saban is officially retiring after a total of 28 years as a college coach, the last 17 of which were spent at Alabama. Although the game never passed him by – he led Alabama to just its 16th straight season with at least 10 wins and its third SEC title in the last four years – the modern schedule became a little too much for the 72-year-old Saban.
“There is no illness. Miss Terry is fine. I'm doing well. You know, when I was young I could work until two in the morning, get up at six and be there the next day and be energized and ready to go, but as you get a little older that gets a little harder and “I'm sure that a lot of people can understand that,” Saban said on “SportsCenter” on Thursday.
Even though Saban is retiring now, he's still leading the way and is coming off one of the most impressive coaching jobs of his career. Alabama lost by 10 points at home to Texas in the second week of the season and then benched quarterback Jalen Milroe before a boring 17-3 win over South Florida in Week 3 that resulted in the Crimson Tide dropped out of the AP poll at 10 for the first time since 2015. But the season changed from there. Alabama bounced back, thanks largely to the midseason emergence of Milroe – who totaled 17 touchdowns and just two turnovers in the final six games of the year – and finished the regular season with a flawless 8-0 record in the Play SEC. That secured the Tide a spot in the SEC Championship Game, where they handed top-ranked Georgia their first loss since 2021.
Alabama made it to the College Football Playoff, where it lost to No. 1 Michigan in overtime in the Rose Bowl. This marked the first time since Saban took office that Alabama went three straight years without a national title.
“I just have a high standard for the way I do things, and when I feel like I'm not living up to that standard, I'm really disappointed,” Saban said. “I wasn’t disappointed this season. I wasn't disappointed by the team. I wasn't disappointed with the players. In fact, that team was fun to coach and they've come a long way and I was really proud of that. “Everyone pitched in and did what they did to have the success that we had. But at the same time, I felt like I could have done a better job if I was younger.”