Two of the most prominent head coach jobs in college football are currently available in Penn State and Florida, and Nick Saban insists he does not have interest in either. The seven-time national champion does, however, have some advice for candidates who might receive consideration from those programs.
During a Friday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Saban was asked what prospective coaches should be looking for if they are in consideration at Florida, Penn State or other schools. He warned coaches about the importance of setting “ground rules” ahead of time.
“I think the most important thing when you take a job is how do you establish the ground rules going in?” Saban said. “You’ve got all these people giving money so that you can pay players, but does that come with them having some influence on what happens in the program and how you coach your team and how you coach the players and all that?
“When I took a job, I said this is how it’s gonna be. I’m not listening to the board of trustees. They’re not telling me who to recruit. They’re not telling me who to play, so understand that going in and go tell them before I take the job, because I’m not listening to the bulls—. I didn’t want to have to deal with that.”
Saban has admitted that the NIL era was a factor in why he retired following the 2023 season. He did not have to deal with that for very long, but top programs have always had donors, boosters and influential people. Saban said coaches need to know how to navigate that.
“You need to set the ground rules for all those things,” Saban said. “What is name, image and likeness gonna be like here? How is our administration gonna be involved? What’s the academic circumstance that you’re gonna support so that we don’t have issues when it comes to academics? Facilities are important. They’re not as important as they used to be because you could have the nicest facilities in the world but if you don’t have the money to pay players, they’re not coming. So, all of those things are factors, but I think establishing the ground rules before you get there is the most important thing.”
"Establishing the ground rules before you get there is the most important."
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 24, 2025
Nick Saban on some of the important factors to coaches when looking at new opportunities ✍️
(via @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/sFVadSgtsj
Establishing the ground rules is only part of the battle for coaches. Schools then need to live up to their end of their agreement, which is easier said than done with NIL money rolling in.
Money often comes with strings attached. Saban knows all about the challenges that can create, and those issues are magnified within the current landscape of college football. That is probably part of the reason Saban’s wife said the 73-year-old is unwilling to return to coaching even for an astronomical amount of money.
