Nick Saban not enticed by any coaching opportunity ‘right now’

If someone is going to lure Nick Saban out of retirement to coach their football team, they’re going to have to pry him away from his sweeper first.

Saban joined Fox and Friends Friday morning to praise President Donald Trump signing an executive order that places restrictions on pay-to-play payments for college athletes. But during the Fox News appearance, Saban was asked by Brian Kilmeade about the mounting rumors and reports speculating that he might not be done coaching football.

“It’s amazing to me that came up in the media and the media speaks for you, and thinks for you,” said Saban, a media member for ESPN. “I never really ever 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. While I was running the sweeper, the thought occurred to me, when you were a coach, you had a heck of a lot better job than this. So that’s the only time I considered it.”

So, if NIL drove Saban to retire from coaching college football, could Miss Terry asking him to use the sweeper or vacuum drive him back in? Saban said sweeper aside, he’s still very happy with what he’s doing now, which includes working as an adviser to Alabama and a college football analyst for ESPN.

Kilmeade, however, aptly pressed Saban again, asking if Bill Belichick going to North Carolina makes him more willing to keep the door open on returning to coaching.

“There is no opportunity that I know of right now that would enhance me to go back to coaching,” Saban said. “I enjoy what I’m doing. I did it for 50 years, I loved it. I loved the relationships with the players. I loved the competition. But it’s another station of life now. I enjoy what I’m doing right now and want to continue to do it. Spend more time with my family, my grandchildren, my children. It’s been really, really good.”

Kilmeade asked Saban three times about whether he’s interested in coaching again. And three times, Saban stopped short of definitively saying anything along the lines of “no chance.”

In recent weeks, Greg McElroy teased the idea of Saban coaching again, as did Lane Kiffin. Nick Wright floated Saban to the Cincinnati Bengals, while Colin Cowherd linked Saban to the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, and New Orleans Saints. And nothing Saban said on Fox News will do anything to stop the spread of those rumors.

Saying “there’s no opportunity that I know of right now” leaves the door open for Saban to be interested in an opportunity later this year or next. Because let’s face it, there are no opportunities right now. No team is firing its head coach in July or August. But if Cleveland or New Orleans are offering the opportunity to work with Arch Manning next season, Saban might be enhanced to coach again.