Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban told The New York Times during an interview that he’d call it quits before he was too old to do his job.
The legendary 7-time college football champion took a dig at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, vowing to hang up his coach’s whistle before he reached Pelosi’s age.
Saban told The Times in an interview published on Monday that he doesn’t “want to stay here beyond my years and ride the program down.”
“So as long as I feel like I can make a contribution in a positive way, to continue to have a great program for the players and that that’s helping them be successful and we have an opportunity to be successful because of that, I don’t think of age as an issue,” he said. “I mean, how old’s Nancy Pelosi?”
“She’s older,” Times reported Alan Blinder responded.
“Yeah. Way older. Older than me, and probably has a more important job than me,” Saban responded.
Pelosi is 81 years old and has served in the House of Representatives for 34 years.
“Anyway, as long as I feel like I can make a positive contribution in a positive way and do good things for the people in this organization, mainly the players, I enjoy doing this,” Saban said. “I’ve been on a team since I was 9 years old.”
Saban has many reasons to want to stay on as coach for a few more years. Millions, in fact.
He recently signed a huge $84.8 million contract extension to lead the Crimson Tide football team through the 2028 season.
The university released details of Saban’s previously announced deal earlier this month, after the board of trustees’ compensation committee formally approved it.
Saban is set to make $8.7 million this year with annual raises of $400,000. That includes a $275,000 base salary and $8.425 million in personal service, or talent, fees.
Saban, who turns 70 on Oct. 31, also can receive an $800,000 completion bonus each Feb. 28 through 2026 totaling up to $4 million. His pay, not counting bonuses, in 2028-29 would be $11.5 million.
Saban was scheduled to make $9.3 million last year, which kept him as college football’s highest-paid coach, according to USA Today’s database of college football salaries.
LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh also topped $8 million, according to the database.
Alabama is coming off another national championship season, including the second perfect record under Saban. His record seventh national title — including a BCS crown at LSU in the 2003 season — broke a tie with former Alabama coach Bear Bryant among FBS coaches.
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The Associated Press contributed to this article