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When Nick Saban decided to retire after the college football season ended many fans out there wondered why.
Why, after seven national championships and a trip to the CFP semifinals, would the 72-year-old coaching legend decide this was the time to walk away?
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders believed that all the changes in college football, including NIL and the transfer portal, drove Nick Saban away.
College coaches these days now not only have to get their players ready to win games they also have to serve as a de facto general manager of what has basically become a pro sports team with every player being a free agent after every season.
Saban initially denied that those were the reasons for his departure from the game, but a new interview with ESPN sure makes it sound that way.
After the Rose Bowl loss to Michigan, Nick Saban wasn’t exactly thrilled with his players’ behavior.
“I want to be clear that wasn’t the reason, but some of those events certainly contributed,” Saban said. “I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn’t do it, and then showing your a– and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff … that’s not who we are and what we’ve promoted in our program.”
He was also bothered by how his Alabama players acted after meeting with them back in Tuscaloosa.
“I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I’m going to play because they’re thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?” Saban continued. “Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.
“So I’m saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn’t work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it’s all about how much money can I make as a college player?’ I’m not saying that’s bad. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that’s never been what we were all about, and it’s not why we had success through the years.”
Perhaps Saban’s most damning statement about the current state of college football had to do with relationships.
“The thing I loved about coaching the most was the relationships that you had with players, and those things didn’t seem to have the same meaning as they once did,” he said.