r/CFB • u/AkfurAshkenzic Oregon Ducks • Michigan Wolverines • 5h ago
News [On3] Nick Saban says he didn’t want to “ride the program down” when discussing his retirement, adding that his age became a factor in recruiting
https://x.com/on3/status/2111484700132770160?s=46866
u/AkfurAshkenzic Oregon Ducks • Michigan Wolverines 5h ago
Full quote: “Nick Saban says he didn’t want to "ride the program down" when discussing his retirement, adding that his age became a factor in recruiting:
"Every recruit had the question of 'are you going to be here for 4 more years?' I started to ask the recruits 'are you going to be here for 4 years. Because your chances of leaving are greater than mine.'"
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u/Buc_Nastie Washington State Cougars 5h ago
“Your chances of leaving are greater than mine” I know that’s him saying transfer or nfl but in a vacuum could be read as a hilarious threat
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u/Mastacator Oregon Ducks • Portland State Vikings 4h ago
"I brought you into Alabama, and I can take you out (of Alabama)". -Saban
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u/PretendThisIsMyName Clemson Tigers • Texas A&M Aggies 2h ago
I never noticed Nick Satan and my dad were the same person.
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u/Mastacator Oregon Ducks • Portland State Vikings 2h ago
He is everyone's dad.
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u/tvcneverdie Georgia Bulldogs 4h ago
"Listen, junior. If we don't win 12 games, there will be a culling."
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u/Trigonometry_Fletch Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
Kaydn Proctor asked him in the locker room immediately following the OT Rose Bowl loss to michigan how much money Saban was offering Proctor to stay.
Fuck them kids times a billion.
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u/michaelGaryScarn009 3h ago
Not afraid to ask, "who is Kaydn Proctor?" Rhetorical and going to Google, but holy smokes.
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u/averyrose2010 LSU Tigers 3h ago
I think he played Center?
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u/Trigonometry_Fletch Alabama Crimson Tide 2h ago
Left tackle. Drafted in first round last year. Transferred to iowa (home state) and then BACK to alabama under DeBoer
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u/Thorin_Dopenshield Georgia Bulldogs • Georgia Bulldogs 2h ago
Bold move to ask for a salary increase after a loss
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u/AlorsViola Memphis Tigers 2h ago
Kid is trying to maximize his earnings and he's the bad guy?
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u/RecordingSilly6118 Alabama • South Carolina 2h ago
You don't ask for a promotion at work 20 minutes after your company loses their biggest contract.
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u/AwfulNameFtw Texas A&M • Minnesota 3h ago
Well he did end up retiring on a full team of players who committed despite conversations like that. Rough
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u/ElectronicCandy4358 Houston Cougars • Billable Hours 4h ago edited 3h ago
I might catch some heat for this, but I think this sheds new light on his weird attachment to the SCSA.
Saban looked at a world with a little more parity and player empowerment and realized he couldn't hoard 5-stars like he always had. That was it. He was retiring.
I don't think it, like, damages his legacy or anything crazy. The Tide still went out in a one-possession semi-final at the Rose Bowl. But it does bum me out a bit. Dude really can't just bow out gracefully.
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u/TheySomeSnitches Alabama • Hawai'i 3h ago
Or, and I know this is crazy, he meant what he said when he said his priority as a coach was developing players and the players weren’t interested in development, just the immediate paycheck. For a lot of coaches, developing players as people and athletes is the reason they do what they do.
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u/ElectronicCandy4358 Houston Cougars • Billable Hours 3h ago
If that were true, Sabam could ride it out coaching at Kent State or Marshall or even drop down to DIII. Dude doesn't need the Gameday or Aflac money.
There's nothing wrong with having an unbridled will to win. Let's not act like Saban coached purely out of the goodness of his heart. There are plenty of young men who aren't NFL Draft material that he could help grow.
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u/onesneakymofo Alabama • Jacksonville State 3h ago
Maybe. He's got grandkids right now. Easier to chill as a grandpa for a decade and collect the ESPN money then pick the game back up ala Mack Brown where recruiting isn't as important.
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u/tmac2097 Miami (OH) RedHawks • Texas Longhorns 1h ago
Except those Kent St and Marshall kids are also likely to transfer at any moment if given an opportunity. The sport is fundamentally different now and there’s really no reason to think Saban is lying about his motivations.
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u/AlorsViola Memphis Tigers 2h ago
Saban looked at a world with a little more parity
I agree with your take 100%. And we already saw Saban in a world with parity and he was a below-average coach.
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u/Available-Can-5878 1h ago
In his final season he was 12-2, won his conference, made the playoffs, and ended ranked #5. And this was just 3 years after winning another national title. In no fucking world is that "below average "
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5h ago
[deleted]
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u/JakeSteeleIII Paper Bag • South Carolina Gamecocks 5h ago
Is that irony
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u/Toad_Stuff TCU Horned Frogs • Houston Cougars 5h ago
It’s like rain on your wedding day
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u/JakeSteeleIII Paper Bag • South Carolina Gamecocks 3h ago
The song ironic is ironic because none of the examples are ironic
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u/Tommybrady20 Ohio State Buckeyes 5h ago
He’d get negative recruited for sure but I’m pretty confident he would get a top 5 class every year into his late 70s just out of guys and their families wanting to go get coached by Saban.
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u/Cowgoon777 Ohio State Buckeyes • The Game 4h ago
Problem with that is the standard at Bama isn’t top 5 results. It’s top 2 results and arguably top 1.
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u/ACardAttack Louisville • Ohio State 4h ago
And if he leaves, super easy for these players to transfer
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u/AL22193 Alabama Crimson Tide 5h ago
Not just recruiting players but there was a lot of chatter that this was a struggle in trying to hire new assistants towards the end of his tenure. Which is how you end up with a half retired Kevin Steele mailing it in for a pension for Saban’s final year
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u/Corgi_Koala Ohio State Buckeyes 4h ago
He had an outrageous streak of hitting on assistant hires. Helped by his recruiting and overall coaching I'm sure but he only had a few meh major assistant hires.
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u/resuwreckoning Stanford Cardinal 4h ago
In some sense yes but him giving Sark a chance speaks to his ethos that you don’t throw people away, and I think for that era we really struggled with that.
Now it’s almost fashionable to do that but 15-20 years ago it wasn’t.
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u/MavisBeacons_Sextape Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Did the same for Lane. He loves the challenge of turning shit around and building it back up. Coaches, programs, players. He’s a rehabilitator.
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u/resuwreckoning Stanford Cardinal 4h ago
This will sound weird here as I am not Christian but Nick Saban is one of the few people who seemed to practice what he preached (I believe he is Roman Catholic) when it counted when it came to giving people another chance.
Like it seems as if it’s a higher thing for him to do that.
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u/8BallTiger Paper Bag • Clemson Tigers 3h ago
The on campus Catholic student center is the Saban Catholic Student Center. Miss Terry would save a seat for him in the back at Mass every Sunday supposedly
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u/Corgi_Koala Ohio State Buckeyes 3h ago
And he skipped every time because he was busy recruiting and breaking down film.
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u/anonymous_otter28 Texas Longhorns 45m ago
https://youtu.be/xHYGeQGJRTY?is=46_xlu22cMVSPrjm
this is what changed my mind about him. Probably his best video ever.
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u/BallsOnFace69 Alabama Crimson Tide 5h ago
Our thought our defense looked better in 2023. But I guess that was mostly Saban working over time
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u/AL22193 Alabama Crimson Tide 5h ago
Saban came out and said that he was more hands on with the defense that last year than he had to be the years prior
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u/DEEZNUTSfromundrgrnd Georgia Bulldogs 5h ago
Just picturing Saban making Steele run laps like Will Ferrell makes that dad take laps in Kicking and Screaming
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u/dunno260 Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
I think we just had a better group of personnel that it together better than in 2022. I wasn't the biggest fan of Golding but thought our fans were too down on him too.
Our 2022 defense had a lot of great individual players but they kind of added together to be a group that was less than the individual parts.
We REALLY missed the ability to play bigger on defense in 2022. Weren't great at DT, only had one bigger DE, and Henry T. at LB was also small and Lawson wasn't quite the player he would be the next year.
2023 defense was less talented position by position but they were able to play more multiple and just matchup better against different formations and tendencies than we could in 2022.
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u/BallsOnFace69 Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Our secondary in 2023 was elite. Downs. Arnold. Kool Aid.
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u/Zenith_24tee LSU Tigers 5h ago
I do wonder who will be CFB’s next learning tree coach, or if it’ll ever happen again tbh.
The amount of assistants that came in to learn under Saban and came out as decently capable to power house head coaches is staggering.
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u/Intimidwalls1724 Tennessee Volunteers 3h ago
Granted, quite a number of them didn't come out capable of leading anything
Ask me how I know
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u/HonkHonkBeach Tennessee Volunteers 3h ago
Pruitt led Chick-fil-A bags to our players that surely counts for something! /s
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u/Intimidwalls1724 Tennessee Volunteers 3h ago
Even Botch, he went to Bama after we fired him then took the Arky state job and it hasn't gone well
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u/UpstairsNail1243 5h ago
Isn’t that already Kirby?
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u/SoutieNaaier Florida Gators • Columbia Lions 4h ago
Ryan Day has had more coordinator/coach movement i think
Kirby doesn't churn coordinators as much
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u/noobnoob62 Georgia • Deep South's Olde… 2h ago
Does Day have anyone active besides Hartline?
Kirby has 1 NFL and 3 CFB coaches (soon to be 2 after Beamer gets fired)
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u/notsaying123 Auburn • South Carolina 2h ago
Not really. He's more of the raising kids into coaches rather than reforming broken old men
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u/UpstairsNail1243 2h ago
Wasn’t aware we were talking about old men. Was thinking of Fran brown, Dan manning, Shane Beamer etc
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u/Pogball_so_hard Michigan Wolverines 3h ago
I think the other problem is he had a critical mass of his own assistants who took over other P4 programs and started poaching Saban’s next in line candidates. Which made it harder for Saban to identify and develop successors.
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u/GaspipeQueso1942 LSU Tigers 3h ago
He really came full circle with Kevin Steele. Saban hired him on his first staff at Bama before Steele made way for Smart to be promoted.
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u/AmicusObserver 4h ago
I mean, I get it. If half the point is to learn under Saban, if it’s getting to be a year to year basis for him, it makes less sense to go.
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u/Dry-Membership3867 Jacksonville State • Arkansas 4h ago
I always wonder that if the DUI doesn’t happen, does Pete stay another year? And if so, is he the HC right now
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u/Phantom1100 Alabama Crimson Tide • Team Chaos 4h ago
No, but he would probably have been our DC instead of Wommack.
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u/Dry-Membership3867 Jacksonville State • Arkansas 4h ago
Oh, I don’t know why he wouldn’t be considered at least though. He’s done good at Ole Miss so far, especially with talent retention
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u/Phantom1100 Alabama Crimson Tide • Team Chaos 4h ago
He got the Ole Miss job due to the craziness of Lane Kiffen leaving. Also his defense being good while not under Saban rose his coaching stock a lot.
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u/Frictionizer Alabama Crimson Tide • Arkansas Razorbacks 4h ago
I agree that he’s done well at Ole Miss, but he didn’t exactly have the best track record prior to that.
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u/Intelligent_Dress347 Alabama Crimson Tide • Georgia Bulldogs 3h ago
Dumbass comment.
Our 2023 defense was absolutely fantastic against a ton of top offenses. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Steele was a great defensive mind.
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u/AL22193 Alabama Crimson Tide 2h ago
And Saban explicitly said in interviews that he took a more hands on approach with the defense in that year. Which he also said the season tired him out more than any other. Pretty easy to put two and two together. Weird hostility here. Steele was a great defensive mind no arguments but he was pretty clearly one foot into retirement.
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u/berrin122 Florida Gators • Kansas State Wildcats 5h ago
I love Bill Snyder, GOAT program builder, but he stayed a couple extra years thinking he could get his son, who did not have the resume, the HC job.
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u/PatronSaintOfCunts South Carolina • Palmetto Bowl 5h ago
Any coaches older than Saban? Any doing well?
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u/Rolltide_and_anime Alabama Crimson Tide 5h ago
He was the second oldest coach in college football when he retired but idiots on here ignore that everyday lol I think everyone expects to be retired by 72.
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u/FightOnForUsc USC Trojans • Pac-12 4h ago
It’s time to start his career as a politician and take his talents to Washington DC as a youngster and show them how it’s done.
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u/Rolltide_and_anime Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Once he starts having cognitive issues he can run for office
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u/PatronSaintOfCunts South Carolina • Palmetto Bowl 5h ago
Absolutely, I don’t know why anybody works a minute longer than they financially have to
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u/helpmeredditimbored Georgia Bulldogs • Virginia Cavaliers 5h ago
Some people need to work otherwise they wither away.
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u/PatronSaintOfCunts South Carolina • Palmetto Bowl 5h ago
That’s absolutely true for the folks where work was the only thing that was getting them up and out every day. I have seen it happen.
I think you’re always good if you have other interests that keep you going. I personally just want to travel and have more time for all my hobbies. I think I’ll be even busier.
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u/Adventurous_Ad6698 Kentucky Wildcats 3h ago
It's really awesome he just didn't disappear but parlayed his guest broadcast appearance when he was coaching into his retirement gig.
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u/SolWizard Syracuse Orange • Cornell Big Red 5h ago
Not everyone hates their job
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u/DisgruntledCascadian Penn State Nittany Lions • Team Chaos 2h ago
Wanting financial independence doesn't require hating your job.
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u/gmil3548 LSU Tigers • McNeese Cowboys 3h ago
I feel like being totally retired would be boring as hell. My plan when I get older but still mentally with it is to either be high enough in the company I’m at or start my own company to where I can take a really small salary to work part time in a planning/consulting role. Like I can come in and help make decisions and mentor younger people but take as many days off and travel as I want.
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u/Individual-Toe-6306 Alabama Crimson Tide 2h ago
My plan too sort of, mostly the mentoring part. It feels good to be able to pass down my industry specific knowledge and train the younger generation to continue to build society. I couldn’t imagine just doing literally nothing. I’ll have other hobbies too like I do now, but it feels good to take part in society in this manner
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u/Adept_Carpet UMass Minutemen • Team Chaos 2h ago
I think I could entertain myself well enough, but if something isn't worth doing when I'm old then why am I doing it now?
For many years there has been reasonably low unemployment. Generally, it's possible to switch jobs. You have to be realistic but there is probably something out there better than "I hate every second of this and it makes the world a worse place" out there.
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u/Reefles Iowa Hawkeyes 5h ago
Kirk is a year younger, but if he keeps sailing out his contract he'd end up being a year older when he retires (if he doesn't get an extension). He's doing fine, I think. It's Iowa so...
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u/Feisty_Can416 Iowa Hawkeyes 4h ago
He has said over the last summer that he feels great and plans to coach for many more years. Things can change I’m sure
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u/Crossovertriplet Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Saban said in 2021 that he didn’t see himself retiring any time soon
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u/Feisty_Can416 Iowa Hawkeyes 4h ago
Ferentz is only 2 years younger. Different mindset on it clearly. He says he feels great and wants to keep coaching for many more years. Knock him if you want but the dude is a football machine. He does not look 71
The stability is a big recruiting advantage imo but it depends on the program, particularly though it helps a ton with player retention, which a program like us needs. Saban had far higher expectations at Bama and everyone views retirement differently
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u/Cowgoon777 Ohio State Buckeyes • The Game 4h ago
Ferentz doesn’t have the same performance expectations as Saban did.
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u/miversen33 Iowa Hawkeyes • /r/CFB Bug Finder 3h ago
I want to be able to destroy gum as well as Kirk does in my 70s
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u/deemerritt North Carolina Tar Heels 5h ago
I can think of one
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u/PatronSaintOfCunts South Carolina • Palmetto Bowl 4h ago
Well, if you average him and Jordon, he’s basically middle age…
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u/Altinvfinance 4h ago
the 4 year question is brutal when you think about it. a kid signing in that last class was basically asking if a 72 year old would still be on the sideline in 2027, and nobody can honestly say yes to that. and he still walked away right after beating an unbeaten georgia for the sec title and taking michigan to overtime in the rose bowl. that's the opposite of riding it down
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u/JakeSteeleIII Paper Bag • South Carolina Gamecocks 5h ago edited 5h ago
He didn’t know how to aurabattle for recruits and was afraid he’d get mogged and called cringe for it
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u/theyterkourjobs 4h ago edited 26m ago
He saw the Brian Kelly LSU recruit grinding video and immediately retired.
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u/ImmNottCurious Georgia Bulldogs • Illinois Fighting Illini 4h ago
Story goes he asked a recruit to "AOL me" and that didn't go down very well
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u/Engelbert-n-Ernie LSU Tigers • Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 4h ago
Not the drip king, just getting rizzed up by Livvy Dunne
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u/Jacobutera Illinois Fighting Illini 53m ago
He got frame mogged and felt like a gooner he had to bounce
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u/Crash_Override_V1 West Georgia Wolves 5h ago edited 3h ago
Alabama fans need to be thankful he didn’t pull a Bobby Bowden and stick around longer than he should’ve.
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u/Jimmy_Live Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
Alabama fans are thankful...
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u/mostlycharmless9 UAB Blazers • Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
yeah I'm not really sure how the Alabama fan base could even manage to be more thankful. He's practically sainted for us.
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u/Wildcats_and_Bourbon Kentucky • Georgia Southern 4h ago
GOATs do this. Know when to show yourself out
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u/ScrapeWithFire Ohio State Buckeyes • Colgate Raiders 4h ago
Has there ever been this many week-to-week headlines about a coach that retired ~3 years ago?
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u/GOATJames_23-6 UMass • Michigan State 4h ago
If they had a 6 part espn doc perhaps
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u/Formal_Potential2198 Arizona State • Texas 3h ago
I thought I wouldn't care for it but it was really well put together. I appreciated he actually commented on his mistakes as a coach too
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u/ShinyTotodile24 Alabama • Valdosta State 5h ago edited 5h ago
I was sad when he retired but I respect the hell out of going out when you are still near the top. We have seen so many legendary coaches over the years who pissed on their legacy by staying around far too long. Also quite literally what more did he have to prove? He is already the undisputed GOAT. I sure would have loved one last natty on the way out, but alas.
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u/Alert_Sport7905 4h ago
College football Reddit has a hard time understanding the fact a 70 year old man who has accomplished the most in his field would want to take a step back and spend time with his family
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u/dawghouse88 Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
haha yeah it is pretty funny people try to create this narrative that he was ran out of college football with his tail tucked. It's not like he called it quits at 60
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u/Optimal_Tower1643 Miami Hurricanes 3h ago
The internet is where you will find the most idiotic and toxic sports opinions. When I talk to people in real life their takes are a lot more nuanced and not hate filled lol. Like the classic “X fan base is THE WORST TOXIC fan base” when every team has annoying shit fans that think their team is infallible and every other team is mid/plays no one/bailed out by refs/ only won because x player was injured.
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u/dawghouse88 Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
haha yeah I HATE those fan base arguments. Like they are all more or less the same. Sure, maybe you can find some regional differences and such. But I don't want to hear an alabama fan trying to act like there is a huge difference from the fans in a school less than 300 miles away lol
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u/Formal_Potential2198 Arizona State • Texas 3h ago
He also took the champs to OT in the semifinals, not like they went 7-5 or something
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u/remfan477 Georgia • Appalachian State 4h ago
Good on him for jumping off when he did. I’m sure he had the end of the Bryant era swirling about in his mind
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u/EWall100 Tennessee • Tennessee Tech 5h ago
Respect to him going out while he still had it, but let's be honest, he knew he couldn't keep up the steamrolling with the way NIL was spreading the talent out.
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u/_JonSnow_ Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Right, I mean just look at how poorly Alabamas recruiting classes have be-
Oh. Nevermind, this comment makes no sense.
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u/Sagamonsta Texas Longhorns 5h ago
Bru he was 72
You won’t be working when you’re 7229
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u/EWall100 Tennessee • Tennessee Tech 5h ago
Let's not sit here and pretend there haven't been coaches that have gone well into their 70s though: Holtz, Beamer, Snyder, JoPa (only talking about the football). None of them faced the prospect of legalized paid players, and so Nick left because he didn't see a way that he could keep his competitive advantage. His age was a great excuse but he quit while he was on top and didn't want to tarnish his legacy or the prospects of future success for Bama because he could not stack the best players and recruiting classes because they can transfer and be paid to leave
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u/Aurion7 North Carolina Tar Heels 3h ago edited 3h ago
Paterno was the only guy in that set who was winning much his last few seasons, and he had... shall we say, other problems come up.
With Snyder, Beamer, and Holtz you're talking three coaches who were coaching to about .500 in conference play over their last 3-4 seasons.
You can toss in Bobby Bowden, who went 7-6 three times in his last four seasons at Florida State and finished a perfectly balanced .500 in ACC play (16-16) over those four years. Those 16 losses were 16 of the 27 total ACC games he lost at Florida State.
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u/Boring_Temporary_142 Florida State Seminoles 4h ago
Bingo! He didn’t want to start taking L’s so he got out of there once the playing field was level. All you Bammers and SEC homers can down vote all you want, your man ran once competition was on the horizon.
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u/dawghouse88 Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
so do you think he would have ran if he was 10 years younger?
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u/RedditRedux Florida Gators 5h ago
Bama has had the 2nd and 3rd ranked HS classes in the country with DeBoer and plenty of top transfers
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u/Chichanged_me 1m ago
Dude didn’t want to coach if he couldn’t have 5 star backups and other schools could openly pay players. He knew as soon as NIL came Alabama would be at a disadvantage and got the hell out of town
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u/Irishchop91 Notre Dame Fighting Irish • UCF Knights 4h ago
Nick Saban should be the head of the CFPC.
Having active ADs on it is insane. He is the voice of college football and many would trust him to make the best picks, not what is best for the SEC
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u/headofthedeadvariety Ole Miss Rebels 5h ago
Translation - Saban wanted no part of NIL football
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u/Boring_Temporary_142 Florida State Seminoles 4h ago
Correction couldn’t compete with NIL football and other schools being able to pay.
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u/ModsEmbezzleMoney Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Recruiting rankings say otherwise but you can role play if you want to
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u/cro45 Ole Miss Rebels • Indiana Hoosiers 5h ago
Suuuurrrreeee Jan.
You didn’t like that you lost power over labor since players could demand more money and had freedom of movement.
The quote ‘winners never quit’ is a farce, winners quit when the expected value no longer is in their favor. - Annie Duke paraphrased
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u/Boring_Temporary_142 Florida State Seminoles 4h ago
All the Bammers are gonna down vote you but this is EXACTLY why he left. Can’t hoard all the talent with cash. Hard to compete on a level field huh?
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u/dawghouse88 Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
Why is it so hard for people to have any nuance on this? like both can be true. Yall act like the guy quit at 60 or something lol. He is old. Clearly slower and has lost a step. If he was 10 years younger he'd still be at it. But he was having to navigate a totally different era of college football in advanced age? Be serious . He doesn't exactly hide that the new era wasn't for him.
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u/Aurion7 North Carolina Tar Heels 3h ago edited 3h ago
For reference's sake, Saban was 49-6 with a national title, three SEC titles, and a worst poll finish of 5th in his last four years.
The four years before that he was 52-5 with a national title, two SEC titles, and a worst poll finish of 8th.
The four years before that he was 50-6 with two national titles, three SEC titles, and a worst poll finish of 8th (coaches)/7th (AP).
The four years before that he was 48-6 with two national titles, two SEC titles, and a worst poll finish of 11th (coaches)/10th (AP).
Over that 16 year span, Alabama lost three conference games in a season once (2010).
But don't let a little thing like not having even the slightest idea what you're talking about slow you down, I guess.
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u/WallImpossible Missouri Tigers • Team Chaos 1h ago
Wait, is the argument suddenly that ONLY Bama was paying players?? I thought the whole SEC was in on it and no one else?? How did all those other SEC teams win natty's then?
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u/cro45 Ole Miss Rebels • Indiana Hoosiers 4h ago
Thank you, it gets tough to see all the propaganda, but I’ll take my downvotes.
It’s not that he didn’t win or wasn’t successful. Going back to that quote from Annie Duke, his success (and Bama’s expectations) set the bar for the expected value so high to begin with.
He was not going to be able to sustain that level of success without the institutional control that he had to begin with.
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u/Gabagool0vaHere Georgia Bulldogs 2h ago
Now let’s take a look at how Bama has been fairing since, what’s that, they’re STILL a top tier program?? How?? How are they able to recruit so well?? I was told they had no power in the NIL era, wtf!
Yeah you deserve to be clowned
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u/Fliptheshoe Tarleton State Texans 4h ago
Dude was just mad he would actually have to coach every week because the talent pool would be spread out instead of concentrated to 6 programs. He is so miserable about how college football is going right now.
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u/nftog777 3h ago
Concentrated in 6 programs is an indicator how little this person knows about football
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u/Fliptheshoe Tarleton State Texans 1h ago
I mean the same teams repeatedly went to the playoffs. Acting like your didn't see that is wild. We'll anyway talent is spread out and Saban is a bitter old man.
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u/A_Diabolical_Toaster 5h ago
Uh huh.
Definitely had nothing to do with NIL. Nope. Not at all.
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u/SoutieNaaier Florida Gators • Columbia Lions 4h ago
Saban's greatest trait was his adaptability.
He'd have been fine
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u/dawghouse88 Alabama Crimson Tide 3h ago
looking forward to seeing how much fight you have in you at 74
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u/FlamingAlpaca17 Alabama Crimson Tide 5h ago
Is the man supposed to coach until he dies?
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u/A_Diabolical_Toaster 4h ago
The smallest sliver of his retirement was his age, but saying he didn’t quit because he saw the writing on the wall with NIL is just bullshit.
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u/FlamingAlpaca17 Alabama Crimson Tide 4h ago
Yeah because Alabama is in such a terrible position right now ranked #6 and likeky to make the playoff for the second time in a row. Its not like he would have spent a decade plus as a bottom feeder and tarnished his legacy like you seem to think. NIL did change the landscape but Saban has adjusted to a changing game before I just don't see why you blame a 72 year old for wanting to hang it up
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u/WallImpossible Missouri Tigers • Team Chaos 2h ago
Dude was 72, you know anyone planning to work to that age? Better question, do you see people that age still working and not die a little inside?
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u/Particular_Ring_6321 LSU Tigers 3h ago
I’m sure it’s a small part of it but he’s in his 70s, one of the winningest coaches ever, and has absolutely nothing to prove to anyone.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say it was the driving factor- it’s still better that he got out instead of doing what Dabo is currently doing.
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u/thecravenone definitely a bot 2h ago
Here's the original source with full context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62CphCCOSD8
Reminder that our rules require that you post original sources.