7x national champ, Nick Saban, announced his decision to retire from the sport after being a head coach for 28 seasons, following the 2023 national championship loss against Michigan.
Upon retiring, Saban revealed that one of the reasons he decided to hang up the boots was the fast-paced changes that were taking place in the college football world in terms of NIL and the transfer portal.
Saban has reiterated his belief in the old school way of coaching, where the main motive of the player should be developing and getting ready for the next step of their career, instead of focusing on money and jumping ship whenever things don’t go their way.
Talking about how the college football world can be fixed, Saban bluntly said on the Pat McAfee show:
“I got it figured out, nobody will listen, so you know, what are you going to do?” Saban scoffed. “We got to have some kind of antitrust exemption. You got to get the political parties together on it. I think the college people have to get over the fact that a graduate student can be a graduate assistant, get paid, is not an employee, so players don’t have to be employees.”
“You do the same thing in football. Put some restrictions and determine what you can and can’t negotiate. Shouldn’t be anything that has anything to do with athletic development. We already have those restrictions, 20 hours a week, whatever it is, that practice time. So there is a way to do this that satisfies both parties, that gives cover to both groups, so that we can move forward,” Saban continued.
“I’ve got College sports figured out but nobody wants to listen..
There’s a way to do this that satisfies everybody”
Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/rgkM5IbyZw
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 30, 2025
Nick Saban Shares Honest Thoughts on Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham Hire
Michigan recently hired its 22nd head coach, Kyle Whittingham, after it fired Sherrone Moore, who just completed his 2nd season with the program.
Whittingham resigned from his ex program, Utah, after leading them for two decades and is considered a great fit for Michigan for many analysts like Colin Cowherd and Joel Klatt.
Nick Saban also weighed in on Whittingham’s hire and said while it’s not the best-case scenario for Michigan, it still is a good fit as he has a proven track record and a process of winning at Utah.
“He’s smart, he’s tough, he creates a good culture in his organization, and that’s what they need at Michigan right now to settle down from all this, you know, BS that they’ve had go on.” Saban said.
Moore was fired from Michigan for having an inappropriate relationship with a staff member named Paige Shiver.
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