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Nick Saban considered Alabama exit for TV analyst role 8 years ago, per report
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nick Saban is arguably the most successful head coach in college football history.
In a career at Alabama that’s spanned a decade and a half, Saban has won 6 national championships. That’s on top of the title he won at LSU in the 2003 season, 4 years after he left Michigan State for Baton Rouge following 5 seasons in East Lansing.
One year, though, that will stick out in the memory of Saban is 2013, the year of the “Kick Six” game against Auburn that saw Chris Davis return a missed Alabama field goal for a game-winning touchdown to spoil the Crimson Tide’s undefeated season and a shot at a national championship.
According to AL.com Crimson Tide beat writer John Talty, Saban had met with ESPN following the season on the advice of talent agent Nick Khan, according to Talty’s new book “The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban”. And those meetings could have led to Saban joining the “College GameDay” desk:
Saban is said to have “zeroed in” on the possibility of joining ESPN’s “College GameDay,” and “quizzed” [then ESPN executive] John Wildhack on a number of questions about life at ESPN, organizational structure and if it was like “working on a team” — a characteristic that was of much importance to Saban.
Saban, of course, opted to stay at Alabama, but his interest at the time was apparently very real.
Turns out, staying with Alabama was a pretty good decision, as all he’s done since the 2013 season is gone 104-10, won 3 more national championships, and further cemented his legacy in the sport.
But it’s fun to think about what the college football landscape would have been if Saban had opted to step away, though.