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Nick Saban is a very busy man.
The 71-year-old Alabama Crimson Tide head coach may well be the best to ever do it at the college level. But right now, he’s playing catch up to former apprentice Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.
The Dawgs have won each of the last two national championships and have shown no signs of slowing down.
As Saban will tell it, Georgia’s rapid ascent to overtake Alabama has a lot to do with the NIL era.
“The issue is, when you create those [collectives] for people, are you establishing a pay-for-play type of environment that can be used in recruiting,” he said in a March interview with Sports Illustrated.
So now, all the sudden, guys are not going to school where they can create the most value for their future,” Saban continued. “Guys are going to school where they can make the most money. I don’t think that is even the best thing for the player…
I think name, image and likeness is good for players. The whole concept of collectives is what has created this environment that we are in, and I’m not sure that anybody really had the insight or the vision to see that was going to happen.”
Things aren’t exactly looking up for Saban entering the 2023 season, either. The Crimson Tide are in desperate need of a starting quarterback after Bryce Young went No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft.
And after a difficult spring, the Tide went to desperate measures to try to fill that hole.
But lest you be concerned about Saban’s health with all the stress, rest assured that he is taking some time to relax.
Saban’s daughter Kristen posted a video on Instagram on Monday morning celebrating Father’s Day. The clip showed Saban with a virtual reality headset working on his boxing game.
And we’ve gotta say, he moves pretty well for a man in his 70s. Saban even made sure to go to the body a bit.
We sure don’t envy any Bama player that steps out of line this season.