In his first appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Alabama head football coach Nick Saban wasted no time quashing a big rumor.
As announced by Pat McAfee during his Friday show in Tuscaloosa last week, Saban will be a weekly guest throughout the college football season. McAfee, a part of ESPN's "College GameDay" crew, is well-known for being loud and not afraid to ask difficult questions.
Thursday for Saban’s debut appearance, the host wasted no time asking a tough one right out of the gate.
"Whenever this was announced last week, that you were going to come on our show and join us every single week," McAfee began, "there were obviously a lot of people that were excited to hear you talk in a different fashion throughout an entire college football season. Then I saw a contingency of people that were saying, 'Oh, this means Nick Saban's done. He's retiring soon. If he's willing to do something like this, it's gotta be the end is near.'"
"Then I talked to people that are close to you, and they say like, 'Coach Saban will never be near the end because what Coach Saban loves to do is lead and gel and mold a team. So although people think he's going to be done, when push comes to shove, Coach Nick Saban is always going to have to coach to basically survive.' Do you view it that way? Do you hear all the chatter about your future? I assume you have to," he added.
Saban laughed through McAfee’s long and drawn-out setup to the question of retirement and then quickly shut down the idea of him retiring any time soon.
"It's kind of laughable," Saban replied. "But I guess I would ask you, you know, when's the first time you heard that I was going to retire? That started about five years ago. And I think it creates some advantages for people, maybe, whether it's in recruiting or whatever it might be"
"But I love what I'm doing," he continued. "I'm focused on the challenge. You know, I've always said, I don't want to ride the program down. I don't want to do this if I can't do it anymore, but I feel great right now. I love it. We have lots of challenges this season. I'm looking forward to it. I'm all in."
Next month, Saban will turn 72. His age and the recent lack of dominance have caused some to question if he is on the verge of retirement. But Saban pays zero attention to this “rat poison” and if anything will use this as motivation to prove his critics wrong.
Throughout the college football season, Saban will make weekly appearances every Thursday on “The Pat McAfee Show."
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