Nick Saban's wife played a major role in his eventual Alabama coaching retirement

College football is an ever-changing world. When Nick Saban first was a part of it, he was an undersized defensive back from rural West Virginia playing for Don James at Kent State. Five head-coaching jobs later, as well as a noted coordinator tenure in Cleveland, Saban retired as the greatest college football head coach of all time. He leaves the Alabama program way better than he found it.

However, there were clearly some cracks in the foundation that led to Saban's abrupt, but totally understandable retirement several weeks ago. First off, he is firmly in his 70s. This is a young man's game, as the rules and regulations in place make it even harder to be a coach in this sport. Saban last won a national championship during the COVID season in 2020. He didn't go out a national champion.

While a lot will be made about this comment said by his wife Terry Saban, this was not the primary reason why Saban stepped down back in January. Miss Terry supposedly told her husband, "Why are we doing this?" She intimated that players only care about NIL and how much money they will make. Not to say the game passed Saban by, but this new chapter of college athletics is not for everyone.

Saban will now be a part of ESPN's College GameDay as an on-desk panelist during next season.

For a man defined by having incredibly youthful energy, NIL was what ultimately got Saban to retire.

Nick Saban's wife Terry's comments may have gotten him to retire

Saban has long been a proponent, yet a critic of NIL. He has long believed that NIL should be used to reward players who chose to come back to school who already have a brand of sorts, based on what they accomplished on the field. Instead, NIL has often been used as a form of inducement, a bidding war for top players, so to speak. There was always a money guy, but transactions are over the table.

To me, I thought Saban had a very firm and adult grasp on NIL. It may be different than how his wife feels about it, and that is totally fine. However, we all knew that day was coming. I thought coaching attrition would be what forced him into retirement. For others, never-ending recruitment (Jeff Hafley) and the NCAA itself (Jim Harbaugh) forced them to leave the college game behind for NFL positions.

Ultimately, the recruiting game changed for Alabama. Back in the day, when I was in college and high school in the late 2000s to early 2010s, the upside of going to Alabama was to play for Saban so you could go to the NFL. My alma mater of Georgia was not on Saban's Alabama's level. Now that Kirby Smart has that thing firing on all cylinders in Athens, cars, money and better coaches hurt Alabama.

I appreciate Saban sticking around the college game for as long as he did because we saw greatness.