Nick Saban on retirement: 'I enjoy the grind'

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Ask all you want, Nick Saban still isn’t close to considering retirement. The head coach was asked about the common question during his weekly radio show, stating that it was often brought up by recruits and their families.

Alabama fans shouldn’t worry, though. Saban says he isn’t planning on hanging up his whistle anytime soon.

“I kind of enjoy the grind of the week and preparing for the game, getting ready for the game, setting up the game plan, doing all that just as much as the game itself,” Saban said. “I certainly wouldn’t ever want to ride the program down if I didn’t feel like I was doing a good job.”

Following last week’s loss to Tennesee, Saban did joke with media guest James Spann, a meteorologist for ABC 33/40, that if Alabama didn’t start playing any better, he’d see if there were any openings as an assistant. However, despite the head coach being an avid fan of The Weather Channel, that doesn’t seem to be a threat to pull him away from the Crimson Tide.

Earlier in the show, Saban broke down his busy schedule. According to the head coach, the week begins Sunday at noon as he evaluates his team on offense, defense and special teams for roughly three hours. From there, he spends about six hours looking over the current week’s opponent before meeting with the defense to organize Monday’s practice. Saban then meets with the offense on Tuesday mornings after watching about three more hours of the week’s opponent on defense.

In between all that, the team goes over situational preparations. Mondays are devoted to special teams while Tuesdays are spent focusing on first-and-10, second-and-long, goal-line and short-yardage plays. Wednesdays revolve around third downs and red-zone situations, while Thursdays are spent on two-minute drills and two-point conversions.

Alabama only gets 20 hours of practice time per week with its players, so a lot of time is also spent organizing a concise message to the team on a daily basis.

“I can’t tell you how many hours we spend in preparation,” Saban said. “Sometimes it's more difficult based on who you’re playing and what they do.”

According to Saban, the hectic schedule leaves little opportunity for life outside of football during the season. He eats at home with his wife Terry on Wednesday nights and might get to spend time with his family following games on Saturday depending on the time of kickoff.

While Saban said football is his “one priority” in the fall, he has learned to get better about managing his time during the offseason.

“What I’ve learned to do through the years is do a better job of time management through the offseason and segment things,” Saban said. “We’ve got little blocks where we take time off, whether it’s after recruiting, maybe spring break, couple weeks in the summer, so that you’re not just completely burnt out all the time in terms of what you’re doing.”

One thing that might pry Saban away from his head coaching job is his grandson, James Setas. While James is just two and a half years old, Saban admitted he would like to coach him when he gets older.

“He hits every ball there is now,” Saban said. “Hockey puck, whiffle ball, golf ball — at two and a half, he can hit it. Yeah, I’d love to coach him.”

Of course, that’s a conversation for another day. Right now, Saban is still focused on the grind.