Nick Saban to have hip replacement surgery Monday
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Nick Saban is set to undergo surgery to have his right hip replaced Monday, according to multiple reports. USA Today was the first to report on the surgery Friday after Saban announced following the A-Day game that he would be undergoing a procedure.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit with one of my hips,” Saban said. “Even though they don’t make ’em like they used to and most players would not be able to perform in spring practice like I did if they had a similar situation, but nobody could even tell. But I might not be able to play golf for a few weeks. We’re going to do an evaluation of this at the end of spring. They say even if it’s the worst case scenario, it may be six or eight weeks.”
Saban, 67, still takes an active role during Alabama’s practices where he works directly with the cornerbacks as a self-described “graduate assistant.” While announcing the news over the weekend, the head coach appeared to be in good spirits, even joking about his physical condition.
"I can still cover (Henry) Ruggs and cut him off. I can still do whatever I need to do, I can still play golf. But this has been a little bothersome and I don’t want to go into the fall with this being a problem.”
According to the report from USA Today, Saban expects to be back to activity shortly after the procedure.
“The only thing I hate about it is, I’ll have to not play golf for six weeks or so,” he told USA Today. “… But this is the best time for me to do it. I do a lot of speaking and evaluating and film work and stuff like that, but we’re not practicing. Other than playing golf, I probably wouldn’t be very active. So this is the best time, and then it gives me a lot of summer to get back in shape.”
The upcoming season will be Saban’s 13th at Alabama. His contract runs through the 2025 season. Despite the upcoming surgery, the head coach claims he has no intentions of retiring anytime soon.
“I want to get it fixed because I don’t want to coach for one more year, I want to coach for a lot more years,” he said after A-Day. “So whenever things like this come up, I want to be aggressive and proactive and try to get it taken care of. We’ll certainly do that. We have really good people to do it and I don’t think it should be a big deal.”
