It’s been one year, 10 months, and 21 days since the GOAT, Nick Saban, walked away from the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 10, 2024. Yet the ripple effects still won’t quit. This time, his name resurfaced after Kentucky Wildcats stunned the college football world by firing Mark Stoops. This prompted David Pollack to drag Saban into the chaos while breaking down the sport’s new reality.

“You can be the best coach in the world. There’s a reason Nick Saban got out,” said Pollack on the December 1st episode of the See Ball Get Ball podcast on how Kentucky got rid of their winningest coach.

After 13 seasons, Kentucky has officially closed the Mark Stoops chapter. A 5-7 stumble, another missed bowl, and a costly loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores pushed the Wildcats to hit reset.

Stoops exits with an 82-80 record and the most wins in school history. After a brutal 12-24 start, he engineered a full-blown turnaround. With this, he took Kentucky to eight straight bowl trips, including two 10-win seasons capped with Citrus Bowl crowns.

Unlike Stoops, Saban walked away of his own will. NIL and the transfer portal were the factors that catalyzed his exit.

“Maybe 70 or 80% of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I’m going to play because they’re thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?” stated Saban back then. 

Across 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, Saban engineered the most overpowering dynasty the sport has seen. He steered Alabama to nine college football playoff title games and captured six Natty crowns. He walked away with a jaw-dropping 206-29 record, an 87.7% win rate that barely feels real. Yet, even that success could not stop him from leaving college football.

“It’s not just good enough to be a good college football coach anymore,” Pollack captured it rightly. 

Cut to Stoops. He had been one of college football’s iron men. For a long time, Stoops has been tied with NC State’s Dave Doeren as the fifth-longest tenured coach in the FBS. Only Kirk Ferentz, Kyle Whittingham, Troy Calhoun, and Dabo Swinney had been on the job longer. 

His November 2022 extension locked him in through 2031. This lined up a $9 million paycheck for 2025, making him the SEC’s fifth-highest-paid coach. Three years later, he has been shown the exit door. Now that Stoops and Saban are brought together by Pollack, it reminds us of an interesting incident. 

Decades ago, Stoops, then a high school football recruit, rang up Saban to say he was steering toward Iowa or Ohio State. With this, he struck off Michigan State, Saban’s turf at the time, from his list. 

College football is still recovering from Saban’s goodbye. However, the GOAT has now descended to villain status for another reason.

Nick Saban is hitting the headlines 

Word on the street is Saban told Lane Kiffin the LSU Tigers gig is actually the better job. Even better than the Alabama empire he built with six rings. That tip nudged Kiffin straight into Tiger territory, leaving Ole Miss in the rearview.

“I think Lane’s decision is going to come down to one thing, and that thing is, where is the place where can I recruit the best players? And I think one of Lane’s apprehensions is, he’s had to use the portal to build his team at Ole Miss each year,” Saban said.

The GOAT had already won Kiffin’s trust. On College GameDay, Saban stepped up as Kiffin’s shield, arguing the LSU-Ole Miss Rebels-Florida Gators hiring whirlwind was a symptom of the sport’s dysfunction, not the head coach’s doing. This might have come off as odd for fans.

It wouldn’t be shocking if Saban is protecting Alabama from prime-time Kiffin chaos. After all, he once fired him, his then-assistant coach, on the eve of a national title game. That’s because Kiffin’s focus was already drifting to the Florida Atlantic Owls.

As if the eyebrow-raising LSU–Kiffin rumors weren’t messy enough, Saban’s got another controversy rolling his way. There is already a debate going on over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Miami Hurricanes over the college football playoff rankings. However, the GOAT has signed up for Team Miami. 

“If they get into this playoff, they are going to be the most dangerous team that anybody has to play because of the talent level they have,” said Nick Saban on College GameDay. 

Retirement or not, Nick Saban stays in the headlines like he’s still the one pacing the sidelines with a headset on.