Nick Saban Issues ‘Fight’ Warning to Pat McAfee After Confessing His Biggest Concern

The yin and yang of college football are at it again. Last year, when Nick Saban took off his coaching hat and moved to broadcasting, a few believed that his personality would translate to College GameDay. Of course, no one doubted the former Bama coach’s knowledge of the game. What Saban would we see? Well, to everyone’s delight, he opened up, and a major credit goes to Pat McAfee. In his second year with the show, Saban had another moment with McAfee.

Pat McAfee announced last week that Coach Saban would appear on the Pat McAfee Show every Friday before GameDay. The appearance before the Week 2 fixtures had the duo discussing Nick Saban’s transition to broadcasting. Pat McAfee told his fellow College GameDay panelist how he’s been crushing in his new avatar. “I enjoy it because my biggest concern was being a part of a team. Doing this has enabled me to be a part of a team… I like preparing. I like being a part of the game,” Saban replied.

The reflective moment meant that Pat McAfee must break it with some humor, and he used the opportunity to call back to what happened during Week 1 College GameDay at Ohio Stadium. Nick Saban pulled a classic move, sparring playfully with McAfee with a pointer stick during a prediction segment. He might not be on the sidelines anymore, but that coach mindset sure hasn’t escaped him.

To that, McAfee said in his latest chat with the veteran coach, “Just watch what you’re doing with your stick.” McAfee knew full well who he was messing with, because Saban fired back immediately. “I was ready for a fight,” he said.

In the now viral clip, McAfee looked visibly shocked after Saban struck the former’s stick. Be it on the turf or in the studio, Nick Saban will show who’s the boss in the room. “You kind of backed off a little bit,” the former coach reminded Pat McAfee, who promptly quit his stick-sword play soon after the rap. “I had to. The alpha in the room showed with a stick,” McAfee said.

It’s been a year and a half since Nick Saban bid goodbye to his glorious career as Alabama’s HC. He built an absolute juggernaut in the sport during that time, and it’s not easy walking away from something like that. Now in a new phase of life, he sure is seeing a lot of welcome support in his career as a broadcaster.

Nick Saban made a tough admission about his post-retirement life

The College Gameday studio is a completely different environment from the field. For Nick Saban, there are no whistles and nothing to shout at. He’s been on the show before and has even presented such games in the past. But that was when he could go back to Tuscaloosa and put on his HC cap. Now, he no longer gets to do so, as he traverses these uncharted waters for the first time. But his fellow College GameDay colleagues have made the experience seamless for him.

“I enjoy it, because my biggest concern was being a part of a team; not being a part of a team if I retired. And doing this has enabled me to be a part of a team, which you’re a part of. Which I, and I really appreciate and enjoy that part of it,” he told McAfee. That sense of a newcomer was clear as day in Saban, which is something that failed to get past his wife’s eyes. “Nick was nervous in the beginning. Every one of them [the program] were so wonderful and supportive and fun to be around,” Terry Saban told AL.com.

But Saban doesn’t have much reason to worry. That’s considering he’s already won an Emmy for his College GameDay work. And as long as he keeps giving us these fun moments in the show, he’ll slowly weasel his way into the minds of the most die-hard groups of football fans. As more games near and fun telecasts await us, Nick Saban will have broken into the shoes of an analyst by then.