For the past decade, Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban has been the top head coach in all of college football. But at 71 years old, he is also quickly approaching retirement age. While it’s quite clear that he’s not ready to retire yet, he recently gave a hint about when that time might come.
During an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith podcast Know Mercy, Nick Saban was asked about his potential retirement. And while he wouldn’t give a specific timeframe for his eventual retirement, he said that he doesn’t want to “ride the program down,” and wants to leave before his age starts to adversely affect the team.
“Well, you know, I basically love what I do,” Saban said on the podcast, according to On3. “I love the relationships with the players. I love trying to build a team with a group of people, now that’s a lot of fun, and I enjoy doing that. I’m also very aware that I don’t want to ever ride the program down. In other words, there’s going to come a time when my age and my circumstance, everybody’s going to be able to tell somebody where he’s not gonna be there. I mean, ‘how long is he going to coach? Til he’s 90?’ And that will start to affect the program maybe in an adverse way. I don’t want to get there.
“And I don’t ever want to be in this position, where I don’t feel like I’m making a positive contribution to the program because I can still do the work at a quality level that is making a contribution to the success of the organization. So I’m not there yet. But all those things are factors that I would consider. And whenever the time comes, it hasn’t come yet, I enjoy what I’m doing.”
It’s quite clear that Saban’s age isn’t affecting the team yet, so that means he’s still got some time to go.
[Know Mercy, On3]
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