ESPN analyst and former Alabama football quarterback Greg McElroy dropped quite the bombshell involving Nick Saban at SEC media days on Monday, July 14.
McElroy wasn’t the only person to predict Saban returning to football, either, as Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin later echoed the prediction regarding his former boss at Alabama.
‘I don’t think he’s done,’ Kiffin told reporters in a breakout session in Atlanta, per the The Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. ‘… Whether it’s college or NFL, I think he’ll be back.’
Saban, who retired after the 2023-24 season, is currently an ESPN analyst and key member of ‘College GameDay.’ His last game came in an overtime loss to eventual national champion Michigan at the Rose Bowl in the 2024 College Football Playoff.
‘A very much in the know person that I have a lot of respect for and have spent a lot of time around, and just really, really admire – they seem to think Nick Saban is not done coaching,’ McElroy said Monday morning on the ‘McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning’ show on WJOX radio in Birmingham, Alabama. ‘He’s pretty adamant that he thinks Nick Saban will be coaching again.’
McElroy then added: ‘If it wasn’t someone notable, I would never say a word.’
ESPN personality Paul Finebaum responded to McElroy by shooting down what McElroy shared, stating he doesn’t think Saban is coming back.
‘You know Nick Saban better than I do, but I ran into somebody the other day who spends time with Saban in Florida – you can imagine where – and said that he is literally having the time of his life,’ Finebaum said. ‘Why wouldn’t he? I’m much closer to Nick Saban’s age than you are and I can assure when you have everything you want and start playing golf at the best golf clubs in America, and you start making friends who belong to even better golf clubs, and you make a lot of money for doing very little work on TV, the interest in doing what he walked away from is not very high.
‘He had a better situation at Alabama the day he left than he’ll have anywhere he goes, let’s say next year. I don’t know if it’s college or pros. Could he be talked into something in the NFL? I don’t know how, because I don’t think that itch burns anymore either. But my opinion is Nick Saban is done in coaching.’
If Saban were to return to college football, he’d be the oldest active head coach, as he’s one year older than North Carolina’s Bill Belichick. He’d be the second-oldest coach in the NFL, as he’s a few months younger than Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll.
The 11-time SEC champion, considered the best coach in college football history, seemed like a longshot to return to the sidelines. That scenario may not be quite as farfetched as it was once thought, at least according to two prominent SEC figures.