When Nick Saban Leaves Alabama, It Won't Be For The NFL
ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 07: University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban talks during the College Football Playoff National Championship Coaches Press Conference on January 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
It will be for a job in television, in all likelihood.
Are you ready for another offseason of Nick Saban-to-the-NFL rumors? Because it's coming.
This is due to three things, really.
- Nick Saban just won another national championship, his fifth in nine seasons at Alabama, causing many to (rightfully) ask, what more can he accomplish?
- There are a bunch of head coaching vacancies in the NFL.
- One of those head coaching vacancies is the New York Giants, a prestigious job in a major market. Some reports suggest this a job Saban covets.
Thinking Saban will actually leave Alabama for the NFL isn't prudent, though. He is eventually going to leave the Crimson Tide, and he will take another job - it's just not going to be in coaching.
You're going to end up seeing Nick Saban on ESPN as an analyst. Alabama's head coach has consistently made appearances on the network, including College GameDay, and that's where he could end up.
This is what Kirk Herbstreit thinks, anyway. The ESPN college football analyst recently spoke of Saban's admiration for a TV job.
“His next step, to me, will be in the media,” Herbstreit said on Golic & Wingo. “I think he’ll either be sitting on College GameDay, or I think he’ll be calling games. I think that’s an itch for him potentially down the road.
“I think he really enjoys when he comes on our show, almost like a little boy. You know, when he comes on and gets a chance to do it, he’ll get done with his segment and say, ‘What do you think? How’d that go? How was that? Think it was OK?’”
Sports Illustrated media analyst Richard Deitsch seems to agree with this line of thinking. Deitsch says that no coach is more coveted for an analyst gig than Saban.
“Based on my ESPN reporting, there is no current coach ESPN management desires more as an analyst post-coaching than Nick Saban,” Deitsch says.
Don't expect this move to happen anytime soon, though. While Saban is 66 years old, he said after Alabama's national title win over Georgia that he can't see himself hanging it up in the near future.
"I know that I can’t do this forever, but as long as I enjoy it and feel like I can provide the right stuff for the people in the organization to have a chance to be successful on and off the field, I certainly enjoy having the opportunity to do it,” Saban told ESPN's Rece Davis.
