LSU’s firing of Brian Kelly has shifted the college football landscape altogether. Almost every big head coach’s name has come up. Forget the present ones; even Nick Saban’s name, who is enjoying his sweet retirement, has caught the buzz. Maybe because Baton Rouge will be a familiar territory for Nick to make a comeback after being away from the job for the past year. But the GOAT first needs to seek the approval from the ladies of the Saban family. Nick’s daughter, Kristen, made things clear a few days back. And she was again forced to take matters into her own hands and show the red signal.  

Kirk Herbstreit lately took up the charge to shut down the rumors of head coaching swaps. He commented on Lane Kiffin staying in Ole Miss while advising Auburn to lock Hugh Freeze for the next 100 years. Here came his take on Nick sailing to Baton Rouge. Kristen found it appropriate to shut down the ‘Saban in LSU’ rumors. On November 4, without writing anything, the daughter shared Herbstreit’s interview on her IG story. The ESPN analyst started with, “You couldn’t pull Nick Saban off the GameDay desk. You got to stop bringing up Nick Saban for all these coaching spots. He’s not going anywhere. My man is enjoying his life.”

Nick is happy with this new chapter called retirement. He enjoys his own sweet time. The former Alabama head coach is often spotted spending time with his grandson, James, on the golf course. When not found on the luscious green field, Nick is spotted boating and bonding with his close ones at a nearby lake. As Herbstreit continued, “He told me, ‘For 50 years, I’ve been in a hurry. I’ve been late to something.’ Now, he’s got Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari dealerships, he’s on a boat, he’s golfing.”

In collaboration with Joe Agresti, whose Mercedes-Benz of Baton Rouge was considered one of the nation’s best-run dealers, Nick opened a car dealership. Today, their Dream Motor Group moves more than 20,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles a year, plus a few hundred Infinitis and Ferraris, across nine dealerships in Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and Florida. The annual revenue is revving toward the $2 billion mark. However, to keep boredom at bay, Nick also took up a new job. The GOAT joined ESPN’s College GameDay in 2024.

Just like Nick, his daughter, Kristen, also believes that coaching is a closed chapter for her dad. A few days back, CFBAlerts’ Instagram page came up with a post listing candidates to fill into Kelly’s shoes. The list featured Nick along with others like Jon Sumrall, Eli Drinkwitz, among others. However, Kristen stopped the water from flowing too far. Resharing the post, she wrote, “Some of y’all are literally brain dead.” But what made her shut things down again on social media?

Shaquille O’Neal jumped onto the Nick Saban speculation train

Earlier, it was Todd McShay who strongly believed that LSU was going to cook something irresistible for Nick, which would also woo his wife, Miss Terry. “LSU is going to make an offer to Nick and Miss Terry that will force them to reconsider their justifiable stance of ‘at this point in our lives, working College GameDay, ESPN, ABC is where we where we belong,’” claimed the analyst. 

Days later, now NBA Hall of Famer and LSU legend Shaquille O’Neal dished some more news that he’s “heard through the grapevine.” Going by his research, the Tigers have held tentative conversations with Nick, “I heard through the grapevine that they were having conversations with Nick Saban. That’d be awesome if we can bring Nick back.”

Even though the former Alabama head coach has shut down possibilities of his returning to Baton Rouge, that did not stop the fans like O’Neal from feeding speculation to the contrary. After struggling under Kelly for four mediocre seasons, maybe they miss the golden Nick Saban era more than ever. He led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2003 and left Baton Rouge with an overall record of 48-16, which included a 28-12 mark in SEC play. However, looks like Herbstreit is right with his predictions.

All Nick Saban wants to do is be cocooned in a cosy blanket, lazing around in his recliner, and watch TV. He’s gotten that comfortable. So much so that when Miss Terry appeared, cake in hand for his 74th birthday, Nick stayed sunk into the recliner, lost in the glow of the TV. Only her commanding “SIT UP!” jolted him out of his zone. Will any offer be tempting enough to pull Nick out of his comfort zone?