Legendary college football coach Nick Saban finally addressed speculation about his return to coaching Friday.
The seven-time national champion appeared on Fox & Friends to address a week of rumors, fueled by analysts Greg McElroy and Colin Cowherd. Cowherd said Saban might take an NFL job to coach quarterback prospect Arch Manning.
Saban quickly dismissed the comeback talk with his characteristic humor, joking that household chores briefly made coaching seem appealing again.
“I never really had a thought about getting back into coaching until two days ago. Miss Terry said I had to run the sweeper in the entire downstairs. So while I was running the sweeper the thought occurred to me, you know when you were coaching you had a heck of a lot better job than this. That’s the only time I considered it,” Saban said.
When pressed about whether Bill Belichick’s recent coaching moves might influence his decision, Saban remained firm about his retirement plans.
“There is no opportunity that I know of right now that would enhance me to go back to coaching. I enjoy what I am doing. I did it for 50 years,” Saban stated. “I loved it, I loved the relationship with the players, I loved the competition. But it’s another station of life now. I enjoy what I am doing right now and want to continue to do it. Spent more time with my family, my grandchildren. It’s been really, really good.”
The legendary coach, who turns 74 in October, has moved from the football sidelines to supporting President Donald Trump’s efforts to reform college athletics. Saban praised Trump’s recent executive order signed Thursday that restricts pay-to-play payments to college athletes while protecting traditional scholarships and women’s sports.
“I think President Trump’s executive order takes a huge step in providing the educational model, which is what we’ve always tried to promote to create opportunities for players, male and female, revenue and non-revenue, so they can have development as people, students, and develop careers and develop professionally if that’s what they choose to do,” Saban told Fox & Friends.
The Trump executive order prohibits athletes from receiving pay-to-play payments from third-party sources while maintaining allowances for legitimate name, image, and likeness deals. The policy aims to preserve the educational foundation of college sports while preventing the pay-for-play schemes that have disrupted competitive balance.
“I think we sort of need to make a decision here relative to do we want to have an education-based model, which I think the president made a huge step toward doing that, or do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams?” Saban asked. “And I think most people would choose the former.”
“I think the clearing house is there to authenticate name, image and likeness. In other words, is your marketing value relative to what you’re getting paid to do a marketing opportunity? When you cross that line, that’s when it becomes pay for play.”
“So you have collectives that raise money that pay players, and they really don’t do a relative marketing job to earn that money, and that’s where this whole thing has kind of gotten sideways,” Saban said. “I think this whole clearing house is there to sort of protect the collective affecting competitive balance in college sports.”
Trump’s executive order specifically requires preserving and expanding opportunities for scholarships in women’s and non-revenue sports, addressing concerns that pay-to-play schemes could eliminate traditional athletic programs.
Saban and Trump previously met in May to discuss the current state of college athletics and NIL deals. The legendary coach retired in 2024 after expressing frustration with how NIL arrangements had transformed college football into a professional enterprise rather than an educational opportunity.