Colin Cowherd has been one of the few analysts that has been advertising about Nick Saban’s potential return as a head coach in the past week.
Cowherd earlier shared that if Saban decided to come back from his retirement, it won’t be for college, as he is already established as one of the greatest to ever do it there, Cowherd along with Greg McElroy, predict that the ex-Alabama head coach will now call plays at the highest level of the sport, that is the NFL.
Extending his Saban-NFL theory, Cowherd discussed an alleged poorly kept secret that’s in the works between the Manning family, Nick Saban and the Cleveland Browns, calling it “the worst kept secret in the South.”
“Arch Manning is part of the Manning family, and this is where Nick Saban comes in. Saban is incredibly close to not only Jimmy Haslam, but Saban is close to the Manning family as well. And so Saban, if he could land, I’m told, a top quarterback like Harbaugh going to the Chargers for Herbert, he would take a phone call for the NFL. And there are two teams guaranteed to be awful this year in the NFL, Cleveland and the Saints.”
“Haslam circle of trust, according to an article in the Athletic last year, is the Manning family and Jimmy Sexton and Bill Parcells. Sexton is Nick Saban’s agent, so the Mannings are royalty in New Orleans, the Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. It’s called the Manning’s Children’s Hospital, and the Mannings are royalty to Jimmy Haslam. Jimmy Haslam also loves headlines.”
“Okay, the circle of trust for Jimmy Haslam is the Manning family and Jimmy Saxton, Sabans, Manning, Haslam, South.” Cowherd concluded.
“This is the worst-kept secret in the South.”@colincowherd connects the dots between the Cleveland Browns, Arch Manning, and Nick Saban pic.twitter.com/8maicxrtph
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 23, 2025
Why Did Nick Saban Retire?
After leading the Crimson Tide for 17 years, getting six national championships and nine SEC titles under his belt, Saban decided to hang up his boots after the 2023 national championship loss against Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan.
Saban attributed his decision to retire at the age of 73 to the rapidly changing atmosphere of the college football world with NIL and the transfer portal changing the way players look at the sport.
He also mentioned he didn’t like the way his team accepted the loss against Michigan, like throwing your helmet on the ground, which is not the way Saban conditioned the program.
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