PALMER: It’s not the time to hire Nick Saban

By Hunt Palmer

Many have argued that Nick Saban slowed time down.

He can’t stop it.

Saban’s name is abuzz on the internet as a possible candidate for LSU’s head coaching position. Shaq is talking about it. Twitter and message boards are refreshing by the minute. Louisiana bar rooms and church pews are filled with chatter.

I think it’s a bad idea.

Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time. He ushered in LSU’s golden age and upstaged The Bear in Alabama with a run we may never see again anywhere.

His affinity for LSU and the people of Louisiana has been public. He also darts off the College Gameday set to make it to his suite for Alabama games. That place means a ton to him, of course.

But the circumstances that nudged Saban out of his office two years ago have only changed for the worse. He sat down with ESPN’s Rece Davis and laid out his reasons for walking away in 2023.

“To be honest, this last season was grueling,” Saban said. “It was really a grind for us to come from where we started to where we got to. It took a little more out of me than usual. When people mention the health issue, it was really just the grind. Can you do this the way you want to do it? Can you do it the way you’ve always done it and be able to sustain it for the entire season? And if I couldn’t make a commitment to do that in the future, the way I think I have to do it, I thought maybe this was the right time based on those two sets of circumstances.”

Alabama never truly slipped under Saban.

His final team led Michigan by seven with under two minutes to play in the national semifinal. Michigan mauled Kalen DeBoer and Washington 34-13 a week later to win the national title.

The game hasn’t passed him by. His energy level doesn’t allow him to do the things that made him great.

“When I was young, I could be there until 2:00 in the morning, be there at 6:00 the next day and be full of energy and go for it,” Saban said. “When you get a little older, I think it’s a little tougher, and I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that.”

Saban is now 74, two years older than he was when he gave Davis those quotes.

College football coaches are responsible for hiring a staff, recruiting high schoolers, recruiting transfer portal players, re-recruiting the current roster, managing NIL programs, motivating boosters, hosting camps, and all of that comes before the first whistle blows at a practice where schemes have to be implemented and game plans devised.

LSU does have a football front office. Resources are available to hire a staff to lighten Saban’s workload, but he’s not one to delegate fully and oversee. He’s always been involved in everything to ensure that the highest of high standards is met across the board.

That’s not a 9:00 to 4:30 in college football.

Times are different, sure. Saban wouldn’t be tasked with “building a program” like he did in at LSU or Alabama two decades ago. He’d be asked to put together three or four rosters to chase a championship. Assistants would likely line up to work for him. Players are now more willing to play somewhere for a year as opposed to being concerned the head coach would bounce and leave them stranded. So, recruiting as a 74 year old doesn’t come with as many questions now as it once did.

There are obvious positives, but the negatives outweigh them.

Saban lamented NIL and transfer portal issues that compromised his ability to run his program the way he wanted to, including high schoolers getting paid.

“And now that’s actually happening,” Saban said at the 2022 Senior Bowl. “People are making deals with high school players to go to their school….It’s not about coaching and developing as much as it is, what kind of money can you make?”

That hasn’t changed. Neither has the portal.

“It’s great that players have the freedom to do what they can do, but I also don’t think we should create circumstances where they don’t have the make the commitment and see things through,” he said.

Some of them don’t even see full season through before asking for a redshirt and bolting in December.

Saban’s era is over. His concerns from two years ago have not been rectified. And despite Saban’s quips, “I don’t want (agent Jimmy Sexton) anywhere near Miss Terry because when she hears some of these numbers, she gets interested. And I ain’t interested.”

The Sabans probably don’t want for much considering Nick’s $140 million in earnings from Alabama and the nine car dealerships he co-owns.

Do I think Saban would flatline LSU’s football program? Of course, not. LSU could do much, much worse. Do I think LSU’s best course of action is to try to steal three years from an aging coach whose energy levels are in question and doesn’t love the way the rules are structured? Again, no.

Saban’s contribution to LSU football changed its path for the better. In a different world, he never scratches the NFL itch and Saban Field is in Tiger Stadium instead of Bryant-Denny. It’s a tantalizing thought for Louisianians.

But that’s not the future. It’s the past.