Exclusive Nick Saban interview after his Alabama retirement w/ Rece Davis 🔊 | ESPN College Football

Exclusive Nick Saban interview after his Alabama retirement w/ Rece Davis 🔊 | ESPN College Football

Rece Davis interviews Nick Saban following the announcement of his retirement as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

0:00 The retirement announcement
6:44 Making the decision
10:44 Changes in college football
15:15 Alabama’s future
18:54 Aftermath of coaching
24:23 Thanking Saban

#ESPN #CollegeFootballPlayoff #CollegeFootball #CFB

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Let’s start with the simplest question of all why did you decide that this was the right time to retire well I don’t think there’s any good time especially when you’re a coach because once you’re a coach you think you’re going to be a coach forever but I actually thought that uh in hiring

Coaches uh recruiting players uh that my age started to become a little bit of an issue people wanted assurances that I would be here for 3 years 5 years whatever and it got harder and harder harder for me to be honest about and to be honest this last season U was

Grueling uh it was a real grind uh for us to come from where we started to where we got to uh took a little little more out of me than usual and you know when people mentioned the health issue it was really just the grind of can you

Do this the way you want to do it can you do it the way you’ve always done it and be able to sustain it and do it for the entire season and if if I couldn’t make a commitment to do that in the future uh the way I think I have to do

It um I thought maybe this was the right time based on those two sets of circumstances uh that um like I said there’s never a good time U but I thought maybe this was the right time so there’s no there’s no illness it’s just the grind and the grel of the Season

Yeah there’s no illness Mr Terry’s fine I’m fine um but it was the can you sustain the season you know from just a a mental grind standpoint um and I you know when I was young you know I could work till 2:00 in the morning get up at

6:00 and be there the next day and be full of energy and go for it but when you get a little older that gets a little tougher and I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that what’s an example of something that when you say

It took a little more out of you a little more grueling this year what’s an example of something that happened in the season um you know I think that my role um was a little different this year um I was more involved with defense had to be more involved with the defense uh

That took a little more time put a little more stress you know on me um made me feel like maybe I wasn’t doing as good a job as I needed to in other parts of our team and um I just have a high standard for how I do things and if

I can’t if I don’t feel like I’m living up to that standard I’m really disappointed why do you think weren’t living up to the standard I mean you you won the SEC you went to the playoff play in the national championship game I I know but yeah but we didn’t get in a

National championship game and I felt like if I could have done a better job you know Michigan would have scored on the last drive to tied up 20120 and would have had a better play to run on Fourth and three at the three to you know have a chance to keep the overtime

Going so um I’m always more critical of myself than I ever am the people around me because I think I can control and influence all those things but um I guess that’s I wasn’t disappointed in the season I wasn’t disappointed in the team I wasn’t disappointed in the

Players in fact this team was fun to coach it was a they came a long ways uh and I was really proud you know of the way everybody bought in and did what they did to have the success that we had but at the same time I felt like I could

Have done a better job um if I was younger what what was the actual process like in making the decision who who did you talk to about it uh Miss Terry mostly um and I think you know her she’s my best friend and we’ve always been close and always made decisions together

About whether was career decisions personal decisions whatever it might be so um you know I I I think that she was a little concerned about are you going to be able to sustain the standard and expectation of what we want to try to accomplish at Alabama uh

And can you do that or can’t you do it and I don’t want to see you kill yourself trying that’s basically what the conversation went like and yet I was told yesterday you were interviewing staff members potential staff members were you going back and forth even up to even up to yesterday

Before you made the decision about whether you were actually going to do this yeah was uh it was a hard decision look I I love coaching I love the relationships of the players uh the thing that made it more difficult for me is I felt like it might be the right

Time for me uh but how it impacted the players the coaches all the people who work here in the building and contributed to the to the success of the team now how would it affect them you know that was the hard part and um that was the part that you know I kept

Vacillating on back and forth till I was on the phone at we we had a meeting at 4:00 uh I was 3:55 I was sitting in my chair looking at the clock saying you got 5 minutes to decide which speech you’re going to give and I was actually

Talking to miss Terry right up until that time so um it was a difficult decision uh because it in impacts and influences you know the lives of so many people what did she say to you in those last few minutes before you went in and

Met with the team um she said I will support you whatever you choose to do so he said I will work hard if you want to stay and do it one more year or um but that’s the problem you know when you get my age it’s inevitable that it’s

Coming at some point in time this year next year the next year and I didn’t work want to work on a year-to-year basis I don’t think that’s fair to your staff I don’t think it’s fair to the players I think you need to make long-term commitments to people you know

It’s always been my goal to help people be more successful in life the players involved in the program and you know you can have two kinds of you know you can have a record mhm and you can have a legacy and your legacy is more how did

You do it and what I’ve always tried to do and want my legacy to be is you helped a lot of people be more successful in their life because you impacted them personally uh they got an education they had a better chance to have a better quality life and you help

Them develop a career as football player so maybe they realize their dream you know and and and that goal and aspiration so um you know I don’t know for sure exactly what the legacy is going to be but that’s what I’d like for it to be I think most people would agree that

That’s going to be a huge part of the Legacy if if not the defining part of it and a lot of the guys that were affected in that way were in that room when you walked in decided which speech you were going to give what was that moment like for you

Difficult very difficult because I love those guys sitting in that room I love those players um I appreciate there’s nothing more that I respect than great competitors and uh these guys all overcame tremendous resiliency uh they committed to the program they committed themselves to the team uh for next year

And I wanted to go in and say Hey I want everybody to make a 100% commitment for the next 12 months but I got to be able to make that same kind of commitment if I’m going to be the leader and the coach so um and that that was a little bit of

A dilemma guys came to see you I’m sure you talked to a lot of people afterwards is there a moment that stands out that’s particularly meaningful to you after you made this decision well you know I love all the players but there’s some players I mean you’re human mhm that you have special

Relationship with and I spend more time with the defensive guys and I spend more time with the defensive back so when a lot of the players came up you know Malachi Moore and Caleb DS um Malachi is one of the captains on the team Caleb is

A young guy that has all the right stuff and does everything exactly like you’d want and is a tremendous competitor both guys so those two guys were probably the most difficult so what did they what did you say to them I encourag them to continue to do

The things that they’ve always done to be successful um and you know one of the things I encouraged the team to do was you know you guys all need to play for each other um you know they’ll hire a really good coach here uh you’ll have good coaches you’ll learn more things

From more different people that can enhance your development um and you guys got to trust in that and believe in that and play for each other and I’m going to be here so I’m going to be here for you I’m going to have a presence I’m going

To stay in Tuscaloosa or give me an office in the stadium and I said I I can get on your butt from there just like I can from on the field you you’ve said this before that being part of a team is so much of who

You are you probably done it since you were four or five years old and you still have that team in one way but it’s a it’s a lot different when you woke up this morning what was it like this morning when you woke up and knew that aspect was different yeah that that

That’s the biggest part that I think um is going to be difficult for me leading a group of people um young people who you are trying to influence in a positive way and not being in a position to do that that that’s probably the most difficult

Thing for me um so I’ve been a part of a team since I was 9 years old I think when I played Little League BAS baseball and um you know it’s great to be a part of the part of a team and you know football probably is the greatest Team

Game of all because there’s so many people involved and there’s 11 people on the field and they’ve all got to do a job for that particular Play to work whether it’s offense defense special team so you know the accountability that you learn the resiliency that you learn the pride in performance the discipline

You have to have the work ethic to get there I’m I mean and when you have a successful team and you win a championship there’s nothing greater than that and um to to be a part of that is hard but very very rewarding and that’s the part I miss the

Most college football’s changed a lot in the last few years whether it’s transfer portal nil all the things that are different what effect if any did that have on you as you were evaluating what to do next it did not have have any effect on my decision you know I’ve

Always been one that no matter what’s happened Through The Years you know whether they went no huddle and you had to adapt to it they threw rpos and you had to adapt to it uh we had a changing environment in college football you know my thing was always don’t complain about

It try to figure out what the best solution is so that you can compete well in whatever the environment is and that’s always the pro approach that I’ve taken uh in the situation and circumstan that we’re in but I will be dedicated to college football and the future of

College football and trying to make um that sport uh as well as other sports in Collegiate Athletics whether they’re Revenue producing or not because I think they all create opportunities for lots of people um I’m I’m I’m I’m going to be um an advocate for trying to make the

Game the as good as it can be and I do think that you know there’s probably more to come when it comes to this topic uh from my standpoint uh but for now um I’ll answer your question and say that didn’t have any impact on what I decided

To do as you think about it you carry more weight than just about anybody more weight than anybody else in the sport where would you start to improve it I’m not I’m not talking about you know shouting at the clouds and going back to the old days or I’m not

Suggesting that because I know you don’t believe it what where would you start to make it work better for the players and and for the coaches for that matter yeah I’m all for the players you know I want the players to have a good quality of life

But I think in some ways you know all competitive venues I don’t care if it’s the NFL Major League Baseball I don’t care what you look at they have some parameters that creat parity and competitive balance so um I’d like to see the players benefit but I’d

Also like to see it be that every school has the opportunity because there’s some kind of defined circumstances and guidelines that uh makes it the same for everybody I don’t care if you’re at Iowa State University of Texas Alabama Ohio State or Memphis State for that matter

They all would have a chance to compete uh and I don’t think the landscape that we have right now allows that and I’d also like to see whatever that solution is not eliminate other sports and other opportunities because of financial ramifications that would um create where

We can have gymnastics or we can’t have track and field you know 82% of the participants in the last Olympics were trained in college so I think that development and the opportunities created by College athletics if we can keep that um intact I think that would

Be beneficial to a lot of people at the same time we improve the quality of life of the participants so what do you think I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this before so what do you think about college football being its own entity operating operating itself with its own

Collective bargain type rules and that typee of thing is that a good thing well I don’t know um I I’m going to think about it I’m going to research it um I don’t know that anybody has the best Solutions there’s a lot of issues right now relative to lawsuits and uh

Different things like that that are impacting people’s ability to make choices and decisions as to what the future really is um but eventually we’ve got to have some kind of way that the players benefit M but they do it in some format that that is equal to all of us

Uh at whatever University or college you’re you’re you know you’re coaching at or playing at you’re talking about your legacy and you wanted it to extend beyond the field but there’s been no Dynasty with onfield success like this in the history of the sport from a turn of championships and a

Small period of time relatively speaking sustained excellence and it’s going to be difficult for whoever steps on that sideline after you I’m sure they’ll call you and ask you what do I need to know about this job and about trying to sustain it what would you say to them well I think

There’s a great team of people here you know we get great cooperation in the university community we’ve had great graduation rate we’ve got really good personal development programs and good people who help guide players in a way that they have a better chance to be successful and we’ve done a good job of

Developing players and we’ve had a lot of really good coaches and we’ve had a lot of really good players uh and I think it’s because we have a team of people who are dedicated to creating value for players so value meaning look we all went to college to

See how much value we could create for our future and that’s always been what we tried to do as an institution and as a program how much value can we create for a player you know a player is really going to college to prepare himself for the day he can’t play football even

Though these guys all have dreams and aspirations of playing in the NFL and we certainly wanted to help them do that but NFL stands for not for long so you know the life expectancy Is Not Great uh and only a few people make it um so what

Do you do next and that’s what I’ve always tried to emphasize the players and they bought into it fairly well I don’t think that um um you know guys transferring multiple times really enhances graduation and I hope we don’t see things in the future 10 years from

Now that we have guys that didn’t graduate and their career is over and now they’re having a difficult time being successful in life uh I think we saw that in the NFL a few years ago I don’t want to see that happen to college players the reaction among the fans here

Has been pretty remarkable I don’t know if you’ve seen but they’ve you know they’ve put tributes at at your statue there when you see something like that and then I even think back to the lady when you arrived in Tuscaloosa that I grabbed you and kissed you on the cheek

Even as excited as she was I’m not sure she could have imagine what’s happened in the interim when you think back from that moment to now seeing people put oatmeal cream pies and cokes or whatever it might be at the Statue what do you think about that um

You know it’s we’ve had great fans here we’ve had great support uh I’ve never felt more welcome that the first time we had a aay game here had 95,000 people come to aay and that kind of support that kind of passion to have a good program is one of the things that has

Contributed to the success that we’ve had so um you know I feel honored uh that these people acknowledge the fact that they contributed to the success of the program all the players that have been here through the years uh we have a lot of gratitude for uh for their effort uh

The players on the team now um but that’s the real reason that we’ve had success it’s the team it’s not just me but I appreciate the fact that um people have that kind of respect for what we’ve been able to accomplish how do you think you’ll find satisfaction in the competitive spirit

That you have in the aftermath of coaching well I’m going to keep working I mean I I I I don’t want to get up and watch Netflix I mean I want to do something you know I have some businesses maybe there’s some other opportunities out there for me somewhere

But um I can think of one but go ahead Sor and I I I’d probably you know like to do that but you know somebody told me once you know you can’t start a broadcasting career when you’re 80 so uh but I I’m I’m looking for challenges you know we have businesses

We have lots of things and uh I do want to contribute to continue to helping people you know Nick’s kids has been you know great and helping a lot of people we’ve um given a lot and spent a lot of kids on first generation scholarships here in Stillman College um and we want

To continue to do those types of things in the community build houses for people um it’s just part of having compassion for other people and trying to be helpful and you know one of the the things that make me sort of most proud is the number of players whether it was Tua M

Jones uh Bryce whoever it was that I saw them working on houses for Miss Terry on a Saturday to build a house for some needy family and now they all have foundations themselves and they’re dedicated to helping other people so uh that’s one of my proudest moments uh as

A coach that because those guys were involved in helping people here and doing things in the community that had an impact to help someone else have a better quality of life they chose to do that in their future it’s been a a surreal day couple of days in sports with you retiring Bill

Bellich who you’re close to uh parting ways with the Patriots uh Pete Caroll but particularly belich with the relationship that the two of you have and the parallel success in many ways that you have what do you what’s your thought about the future of long-term coaching icons coaches being

Able to stay in a place a long time and sustain success well I think it’s a tribute because I think it’s much more difficult to sustain success than it is to build a program to to to take a three in8 team and in 3 or 4 years make it a successful program

Uh I think to do it for a long time because people don’t react well to success they react much better to failure uh they’re they’re more willing to change their ways they’re more willing to develop the habits they need to develop to be successful but when you’ve climbed the mountain

Successfully several times you become the mountain so therefore everybody’s shooting at you everybody wants to beat you everybody circles that game on you know their schedule as this is the game that we want to make sure we’re ready for and win um so now you have to have

People in your organization who are not trying to prove anything they’re actually trying to be the best that they can be and that’s a much more difficult thing to try to accomplish on a consistent basis so you know my hats off to bill for all the success that he had

P Pete Carroll uh all the success that he’s had in college and the NFL um you know those guys are really special in terms of what they’ve been able to accomplish you recognize how difficult that is to continue to do it yet you never fell into the Trap

Why I don’t know I I always looked at the next challenge you know the next season the next team um and it was almost like for me you just took a new job you know when that season was over whether he won the championship or got beat in the playoffs or lost the

National championship game I mean we’ve done them all and we lost them on the last play of the game I mean so whatever that circumstance was two or three days later I’m like this is like taking a new job we have a new team we got new

Leadership we got coaches lead and we got to hire people so how are we going to build that team and um so I never looked back I always was looking at the the challenge of the future uh and you know I did that because of the standard

That I was trying to work toward uh the standard that I wanted the people in the organization to work toward and the standard of Excellence that we were looking for and the players to get them to to be the best that they could be that that’s all I ever ask a guy you

Know be the best that you can be don’t worry about winning don’t worry about losing what do you have to do to get the outcome that you want by focusing on the things that are going to help you get the outcome and uh that’s always been

Sort of my philosophy and I think that’s why we were always able to you know look at the next challenge I mean for somebody who grew up loving this sport loving this University particularly um we ought to thank you for what you did for the sport for the

University for our show over the years you’ve been spectacular man and we really really appreciate you and respect you and and we’ve been we’ve been in I know you hate this kind of stuff we’ve been in the presence of greatness and we’re grateful for it appreciate you man

Well I thinkk I thank you for saying that um but a lot of people contributed to that so I hope that they all know that I appreciate what they did to create that but I also think that what you do for College athletics the interest that you create whether it’s

Game day doing all the things that you know Sports Center does and um all the people who promote Athletics I mean I think that’s really and really important and I think we all need to respect and cherish what we need to do in the future

To make sure that we maintain that at a high level for a lot of people me something I can cigarette so I can breathe something