Nick Saban on Greg McElroy’s return-to-coaching rumor: ‘I don’t know where that came from’

What does Nick Saban say to the rumors that he is returning to the sidelines to coach?

The former Alabama head coach was asked that question on Monday night in Birmingham while speaking at the annual Nick Saban Legacy Awards ceremony. The question came after former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy relayed rumblings that Saban was “not done coaching” and could return to the profession after deciding to retire in January of 2024.

Saban cracked a joke about those said rumors on Monday evening.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Saban said, via WBRC 6 News. “Greg McElroy played quarterback for us, and if he had done something like that as a player, he would’ve gotten his ass kicked.”

This marked the second time Saban has addressed the return-to-coaching rumors in a public setting. The first came in an interview with Fox & Friends last month. “There is no opportunity that I know of right now that would enhance me to go back to coaching,” Saban said in July.

But does Saban miss leading a football program? Better yet, does his wife, Terry, miss the way things used to be? Saban was asked that by Rick Neuheisel at the legacy awards event.

“I don’t think she misses it,” Saban said of Miss Terry. “But when I come home at three o’clock in the afternoon now, she says, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I say, ‘Well, I live here.’ But she’s used to me not being around, which is OK when it comes to getting a few golf games in.

“But I think what I miss the most, which was my biggest fear, is being a part of a team. The relationships that you have with players and coaches and people in the organization and how you can impact them – I’ve been a part of a team since I was nine years old playing little league baseball, and I had a tremendous fear that I would really, really miss it. And that part I miss.

“But the working 14 hours a day, the recruiting, the changes that we’re going through in college football, the challenges that that presented was a little much at my age and the last year I coached, and the last game I coached against your buddy Jim Harbaugh was really, really difficult. So I thought it was the right time. She thought it was the right time. 

“And we don’t have any regrets. We’re happy to be part of a team on ESPN on (College) GameDay. I speak and we have businesses, so I try to keep busy. I think that’s been very helpful.”

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