On Monday, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy said he had heard that his former head coach, Nick Saban, could return to coaching.
According to McElroy, co-host of WJOX's "McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning," someone "very much in the know" thought Saban was not done coaching.
The legendary coach retired from coaching in 2024, citing the landscape of college football with NIL, the transfer portal and other aspects for retiring.
“[T]his 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 live at SEC Media Days. “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."
"Do you buy that?" he asked ESPN's Paul Finebaum.
Finebaum replied, “No," adding, “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. 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 continued, “I mean, 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.”
"Look, if it wasn’t someone notable, I’d never say a word," McElroy clarified.
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