Nick Saban's retirement shocked many, and now, United States Senators are weighing up what caused the seven-time national champion to call it quits.
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Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama and former Auburn Tigers head coach, mentioned that NIL is likely attributed to Saban ending his coaching career.
"He never mentioned it, but he and I have been working on an NIL bill, along with a lot of other coaches, ADs, for the last couple of years," Tuberville claimed, via AL.com. "And he just got tired of it."
That said, Tuberville believes there is more to it than just that.
"I think he got to a point where, you know, he wanted to do maybe something else. He had accomplished so much," Tuberville added. "And I hate to see him go from college sports. I think he will stay active in some way. I don't know what it is. The success he had...it will never be duplicated, in our lifetime, anyway."
Interestingly enough, Alabama-based Democrats mentioned on X that they wanted Saban to go after Tuberville's Senate seat after he retired from coaching.
We officially second this. https://t.co/4dm6mGuXGZ
— Alabama Democrats (@aldemocrats) January 10, 2024
The "Alabama Democrats" account reposted a notion from Josh Moon, who wanted Saban to run for the Senate. They added, "We officially second this."
Some might say that Tuberville is using the retirement as ammunition toward his political agenda for NIL, but Saban told ESPN's Chris Low that it wasn't why he was retiring.
"Don't make it about that. It's not about that," Saban said. "To me, if you choose to coach, you don't need to be complaining about all that stuff. You need to adjust to it and adapt to it and do the best you can under the circumstances and not complain about it."
Saban, 72, ended his coaching career with a 292-71-1 record, going 19-12 in bowl games and 9-5 in the College Football Playoff.
