It’s been two years since Nick Saban stepped away from Alabama, ending one of the most dominant runs the sport has ever seen. And if there were ever a scenario where you could picture him coaching again, it probably wouldn’t be on a college sideline. It would be for an NFL team searching for direction, like the Tennessee Titans.

At least, that’s what the rumor mill indicates. The Titans are nearing the point where the focus fully shifts to finding their next head coach. Names will come and go. Interim coach Mike McCoy hasn’t moved the needle any more than Brian Callahan did before him. Tennessee sits at 2–12 and hasn’t won a game at home. There’s no momentum to build on.

The coaching market doesn’t offer many obvious answers. There aren’t proven NFL head coaches lining up for a job like this, and even if there were, it’s fair to wonder how many would be eager to take on a roster that looked this lifeless for most of the season. Hence, going for Nick Saban would be wise.

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As a college head coach, he went 292–71–1. He was 19–12 in bowl games. He went 9–5 in the College Football Playoff. He won seven national championships and eleven SEC titles. Along the way, he won three Bobby Bowden Coach of the Year awards and coached four Heisman Trophy winners at Alabama.

Yes, his time with the Dolphins didn’t work. The 15–17 record in two seasons still gets brought up. But Miami had more issues than just coaching. There was no franchise quarterback, and he was given a 4-12 roster. Tennessee believes it has its long-term quarterback in Cam Ward, and he has made it clear he wants a voice in what comes next.

“Yeah, I’ve had conversations with them about how I wanna be involved. They know how much I wanna be involved,” Ward said. “Not even with the scheme part of it. As the head coach, who he is every day, on an everyday basis, and then just then we’ll get into the scheme, what I’m good at, what I want to do.”

And that’s where Saban’s strength has always shown, especially with quarterbacks. Ask Jake Coker, who played for him at Alabama.

“He’d talk to me and get me to a place where I was going out there and reacting instead of overthinking each moment,” Coker said. “A lot of our conversations were tailored toward the mental aspect. I would say he’s the best at managing emotions of any coach I’ve been around. I mean, when he gets mad, you know you deserve it. And when he pats you on the back, you deserve it.”

That’s the kind of structure Ward needs right now. And after Saban’s recent move, we might actually see it happen.

Nick Saban dips his toes into Tennessee sports

Nick Saban isn’t exactly disappearing from the sports world. Earlier this month, Saban and Dream Sports Ventures LLC partner Joe Agresti purchased a minority stake in the NHL team Nashville Predators, the team announced on Dec. 16. They’re joining an ownership group led by former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam.

Saban has long been a Predators fan and has quietly been expanding his investment interests. On the surface, it’s another step into the Tennessee sports landscape. But if you listen closely to how he talks about it, it doesn’t sound like a man angling his way back onto a sideline. Not yet, anyway.

“Although I am now retired as a coach, I still possess a competitive nature and a great passion for sports,” Saban said. “Being involved in a sports team in Nashville has always been a goal and the opportunity to partner in the Predators with a class act like Bill Haslam created the perfect scenario for us.”

That passion might be getting tested quickly. The Predators haven’t won a playoff series since 2018. They’ve lost each of their last five first-round appearances, missed the postseason entirely in 2023 and 2025, and sit at 13-16-4 through 33 games of the 2025-26 season. Well, he sure likes to take on impossible challenges, so it would be interesting to see how far his ship sails in the Tennessee world.