Major Rumor Swirling About Nick Saban's Coaching Future

Nick Saban won seven national championships in a college football head coaching career that last three decades before retiring following the 2023 season.

Saban spent last year as an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay, where he drew mostly positive reviews and seemed quite comfortable on the air. He's due back on GameDay this fall, but one of Saban's former quarterbacks isn't ruling out the 73-year-old making a return to the sidelines at some point.

Greg McElroy, who played for Saban at Alabama and was the Crimson Tide's starting quarterback when they won the national championship in 2009, is not convinced his old mentor is done coaching.

During an interview with ESPN's Paul Finebaum on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning Monday, McElroy said he spoke to someone "notable" who was "pretty adamant" about Saban getting back into coaching.

“This is a little bit out of left field, but the question was asked of me … a very much in the know person that I have a lot of respect for and have spent a lot of time around and just really, really admire,” McElroy said, via On3. “They seem to think Nick Saban’s not done coaching. I had a similar reaction. He’s pretty adamant that he thinks Nick Saban will be coaching again. … Look, if it wasn’t someone notable, I’d never say a word.”

Saban turns 74 in October. Heading into this season, UNC's Bill Belichick is the oldest coach in college football at 72, followed by Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, who is 69.

Considering Saban's resume and well-known competitive nature, we suppose you can never say never to him coming back. It seems unlikely though.

By all accounts, he enjoys his work at ESPN, and with the college football landscape rapidly changing thanks to the transfer portal and NIL, Saban might not be in a rush to return.

Finebaum certainly seemed skeptical of McElroy's explanation when he was asked about it.

“Greg, you know Nick Saban better than I do, but I ran into somebody the other day who spends time with Saban in Florida – you can imagine where – and said that he is literally having the time of his life,” Finebaum said. “And why wouldn’t he? I’m much closer to Nick Saban’s age than you are and I can assure you, when you have everything you want and you start playing golf at the best golf clubs in America and you start making friends who belong to even better golf clubs and you make a lot of money for doing very little work on TV, the interest in doing what he walked away from is not very high.

“He had a better situation at Alabama the day he left than anywhere he goes, let’s say it’s next year. Now, I don’t know whether it’s college or pros – could he be talked into something in the NFL? I don’t know how, because I don’t know that itch burns anymore, either. But my opinion is Nick Saban is done in coaching.”