Alabama's Nick Saban Shoots Down Retirement Talk, Says It's 'Kind of Laughable'

Alabama missed the College Football Playoff last season and is off to a slow start this year after losing to Texas on Saturday, but head coach Nick Saban isn't going anywhere.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show (h/t Mike Rodak of 247Sports), Saban said "it's kind of laughable" that people believe he is close to retiring.

"I feel great right now," he said. "I love it. We've got lots of challenges right now. I'm looking forward to it. We're all in."

While Saban shot down any retirement speculation, it isn't difficult to see why he might at least entertain the notion.

After all, he is 71 years old and has absolutely nothing left to prove. Alabama is also one of the high-pressure jobs that is national-championship-or-bust every season, which can make even successful years feel like failures.

Yet he said he still loves it and has no plans to walk away in the near future.

Saban has also coached Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and the Miami Dolphins, but he is a walking dynasty in Alabama. He started with the Crimson Tide in 2007 and led them to three BCS national championships in his first six years.

They have since won three College Football Playoff national championships and been to three other title games since the postseason system switched. In fact, there have been nine total seasons with the current CFP in place, and only three of them featured a national championship game that did not include Alabama.

Even if Saban's squad falls short of the title goal this year after looking vulnerable during its loss to Texas, the future remains bright.

The Crimson Tide brought in the No. 1 recruiting class in 2023 and currently have the No. 4 class for 2024, per 247Sports' composite rankings, with time to move up the rankings before national signing day.

Alabama might be down by its nearly impossible standards with an early loss coming off a playoff-less season, but it would be far from surprising if it was back on top of the college football mountaintop sooner rather than later.