Paul Finebaum: I'm surprised Nick Saban has not returned to the NFL
It was reported Wednesday that every NFL team with a head coaching vacancy this season contacted Alabama coach Nick Saban either directly or indirectly. Saban declined all offers, but Paul Finebaum is surprised the five-time national champion coach hasn’t become bored of the college game and returned to the NFL.
“I think Saban, at some point, will just get bored with all this,” Finebaum said on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Thursday. “Had he won last year, that would have been six national championships, five in eight years. Everyone loves to win, everyone loves to be successful, but Nick Saban has been at Alabama 10 years now, and I’ve wondered why he hasn’t left previously.”
Alabama radio broadcaster Eli Gold has the polar opposite of Finebaum, and believes Saban will never go back to the NFL.
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Some coaches never try the NFL. Saban did and didn’t like it. He talks about his age as a factor as well. I honestly don’t see Saban coaching anything after 5 more years. I think he will hang it up.
Agreed. Not sure why this is so difficult for people to understand. Saban tried the NFL and didn’t like it, probably for a lot of reasons. This whole argument that you have to win at the “highest level” to be the best is pure BS. College and professional football are completely different animals when it comes to job responsibilities and circumstances. I highly doubt that belichick could match Sabans level of success at the college level. Every year is a new challenge in college due to the roster turnover. It’s that challenge that Saban thrives on. That’s why he’s not “bored”. Finebaum has never played a minute of competitive sports in his life, that’s why he doesn’t get it.
People have this preconceived notion that the NFL is the highest level of competition. I don’t believe it is. I think the ones that are trying to get to the NFL are more competitive than the veterans-meaning there is a drop off in the NFL with “give a sh*t” but not in college (unless you didn’t care to begin with, i.e. Speedy Noil types..). With college coaches getting paid similar or more than NFL coaches, what’s a Super Bowl to a CFNC? Times are changing, so are the NFL game ratings….
Also, winning doesn’t get boring; losing does. As Herm Edwards so eloquently put it: “You play to win the game”.
Facts, my dude. Facts.
Excellent points, every one. Plus, coaches like Saban find success in controlling every nook and cranny in the organization, and their basic natures recoil at being in a managerial hierarchy. In the NFL’s team management structure, there are simply “too many cooks in the kitchen.” So, if you’re Nick Saban you’d rather work with a hands-off AD like Bill Battle than toil every day alongside a general manager, a director of player personnel, a director of scouting, a VP for football operations — each of whom has a role with decision-making authority for some aspect of your football team that can and usually does at some point collide uncomfortably with that of the head coach. Imagine Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant, Urban Meyer, or Bo Schembechler being willing to tolerate that kind of environment, and it’s no stretch to understand why Saban is exactly where he needs to be.
I agree. I also feel like Finebaum is an idiot. How can he not know Saban’s stance on the NFL but claim to be a super fan? He’s not Cowterd stupid but is a close second.
Said no to 6 NFL teams this off season. Why are you surprised NO means NO!
He wants to beat Bears records you goofus. Until then he has unfinished business. Bear 6 NC, Saban 5. He ain’t done.
Ok, so let’s not use the phrase “NO means NO” with the words “He wants to beat Bears records” soon after. lol
I personally think the only way Saban hangs it up will be if he either has some illness and just can’t physically coach, or if he loses the desire. The desire looks like it’s not going away anytime soon.
Agreed, don’t see him ever losing the desire to coach or teach kids how to better themselves on and off the field. I don’t see him slowing down within the next 2-3 years and I think he coaches into his mid 70’s or more. I hope I’m right about that and he stays at Bama for another decade, but if he does retire in the next few years, so be it and thanks for everything coach.
And when he does eventually retire, you gotta feel for whoever replaces him and has to try and fill those shoes…
I’m surprised Paul Finebaum has a job.
I join other readers here in expressing puzzlement at Paul’s opinion. Saban learned from his brief stay in the NFL that he would NEVER have the organizational and operational say-so he requires as the quintessential control freak. And Finebaum’s been around long enough to know that.
Paul, that’s why you’re a talking head and Nick is an 8 million dollar a year top winning coach, you don’t understand commitment
I don’t think this has much, if anything to do with commitment. It’s simply what Saban wants to do.