Nick Saban’s retirement sent shockwaves throughout the college football world. A 247Sports report revealing the Alabama coach cited his age and health to Crimson Tide players led to concerns from football fans of all affiliations.

A new feature from ESPN’s Chris Low provides clarification on why Saban mentioned health when telling UA players he was retiring.

“Last season was difficult for me from just a health standpoint, not necessarily having anything major wrong, but just being able to sustain and do things the way I want to do them, the way I’ve always done them,” Saban told Low. “It just got a little bit harder. So you have to decide, ‘OK, this is sort of inevitable when you get to my age.'”

Saban, who turned 72 in 2023 on Halloween, was one of college football’s oldest active coaches. Mack Brown, who is returning in 2024, is just over two months older than Saban with a birthday of Aug. 27, 1951.

Low’s feature mentions that Saban never considered scaling back his hands-on approach as a coach. He also notably kept working regularly, concluding a Zoom interview with an assistant shortly before his retirement announcement.

“It’s the way I’ve always done things,” Saban said. “You keep working right up until it’s time to walk away. I think when you get away from doing what you’ve always done, you’re never going to be as effective. And that’s just sort of it. I knew it was time.”

Even on the first day of his retirement, Saban showed up to the Alabama offices Thursday morning to help with the transition.

The college football world is watching Alabama’s search closely.