Nick Saban is retired. According to Chris Low of ESPN, the greatest coach in college football history informed his Alabama football players on Wednesday afternoon that he will not return for the 2024 season.
His career is over after winning seven national titles with the Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers.
Nick Saban, 72, was rumored to be considering retirement prior to the 2023/24 season. It appears as though those sources in Tuscaloosa were correct.
Unfortunately, the final play of his legendary career could not have been more disappointing. Jalen Milroe ran a quarterback draw up the middle for no gain after a botched snap.
The lasting image from his 50 years in college football was Michigan storming onto the field.
It is a real shame that he went out on such a disappointing loss because 2023/24 was arguably the best single season of his career in terms of how far his team came. People will remember the national titles. They will remember the 16-year streak during which the Crimson Tide won 10+ games each year.
They will also remember how Milroe ran up the middle and got stuffed.
What fans (and haters alike) will soon forget is where Alabama began this past season. Saban and his team lost to Texas in Week 2. They looked awful against South Florida in the rain. They came a lot closer to losing to Ole Miss than the score reflects. But the Crimson Tide founds ways to win.
Even the Iron Bowl serves as a great example. Despite every opportunity for Auburn to win, Saban, his staff and the roster he assembled by hand pieced together a miraculous game-winning drive.
The 2023/24 Alabama football team was never supposed to reach the College Football Playoff. It was never supposed to go 11-1.
And yet, despite all of the doubt and all outside noise, Alabama came three yards and one botched snap short of its seventh CFP National Championship appearance in nine years.
Saban went out on a failed 4th-and-goal. However, his team wouldn’t have been in a position to lose in such heartbreaking fashion without one of the best single seasons of the greatest coaching career in college football history.
Who will replace him? We will see. Time will tell.
For now, college football fans must forget how things ended and focus on the legend of Saban. Congratulations, coach! It has been fun.