Nick Saban addresses whether he is near retirement

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Saban is one of college football’s most legendary coaches. He is arguably the greatest of all-time and regularly finds himself competing for a National title. But at 70 years old and after more than 50 years in the game of football, is Saban nearing retirement?

No. No he is not.

“I don’t really think about retiring,”Saban recently told “The Dan Patrick Show,” via On3. “I always think about what the heck am I going to do if I do retire? That’s a scary thought.

“There’s nothing that I want to do like some people want to go to Europe or go to Scotland and play golf and all that. I wouldn’t mind doing all that stuff, but I don’t have to quit my job to do it. I worry about what am I going to do if I don’t do this?”

It isn’t so much the need for a replacement hobby that concerns Saban, it’s his love of competition. And more specifically, his love of feeling accomplished after winning.

“When I say, ‘What am I going to do?’ I don’t mean play golf or whatever,” Saban added. “I mean, how are you going to get any kind of positive self-gratification or feeling of accomplishment when you’ve done something for so long that you like so much and then all of a sudden it’s not there? So that’s a good question. I don’t really have the answer to that one.”

After what Saban called a “rebuilding” year, he’s ready to lead the Crimson Tide back to prominence here in 2022. They are ranked No. 1 in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll.