Nick Saban Says He’s Thinking About Getting Back Into Coaching Because His Wife Makes Him Vacuum The House

Not big on housework, eh?

Over the past week or so, speculation has ramped way up that Nick Saban might be considering a return to coaching after retiring as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide following the 2023 season.

And it’s easy to see why Saban might still have the desire to coach. He stepped away just three years after winning his seventh national championship, and with his team still ranked in the top 5, having made the playoffs in 7 of his last 9 seasons.

So yeah, Saban still has it.

Of course the landscape of college football has changed a lot during Saban’s legendary career. He’s said that a big part of the reason he decided to step down was because of the explosion of NIL and the transfer portal, which makes it harder to recruit and keep players who are constantly shopping around for more money. And Saban also seems to be enjoying his new gig on ESPN’s College GameDay and as an analyst for the network.

But still, if he were to decide tomorrow that he wanted to get back into coaching, there would be no shortage of schools competing for his services.

The rumors about Saban’s return to coaching flared up recently after comments made by former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy during SEC media days. An analyst for ESPN himself, McElroy said sources claimed that Saban was looking to return to the sidelines:

“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. They seem to think Nick Saban is not done coaching. He’s pretty adamant that he thinks Nick Saban will be coaching again.” 

And while he wouldn’t reveal his source, he said that it was somebody “notable,” otherwise he wouldn’t have said anything about it.

Colin Cowherd, meanwhile, also threw out rumors that Saban might not be looking to return to college, but actually has his eye on the NFL so that he can coach Arch Manning:

“So, Saban, if he could land, I’m told, a top quarterback like Harbaugh going to the Chargers for Herbert, he would take a phone call for the NFL. And there’s two teams guaranteed to be awful this year in the NFL. Cleveland and the Saints.”

Now, do I believe that one? Absolutely not. Saban had a short but disastrous stint in the NFL, and I have no reason to believe he wants to return and put his legacy on the line by giving the NFL another shot when all of his success was at the college level.

But could I see Saban returning to the college sidelines? I mean, maybe? He’s obviously a fiery personality who’s passionate about coaching, so you could see him itching to get back into the game after taking some time off.

According to Saban, though, it ain’t happening.

During an interview with Fox & Friends this morning, Saban was asked about the possibility of coming out of retirement to get back into coaching:

“There is no opportunity that I know of right now that would enhance me to go back to coaching. I enjoy what I’m doing. I did it for fifty years. I loved it. I love the relationship with the players. I love the competition. But it’s another stage of life now. I enjoy what I’m doing right now. I want to continue to do it, spend more time with my family, my grandchildren, my children. And it’s been really, really good.”

Apparently there is one thing that’s made Saban reconsider though: His wife making him do chores around the house.

“I never really ever had a thought about getting back into coaching until 2 days ago. Ms. Terry said I had to run the sweeper in the entire downstairs. So while I was running the sweeper, the thought occurred to me, ‘You know, when you were coaching, you had a heck of a lot better job than this.'”

I mean, I get it. I hate running the vacuum too.