Nick Saban's failed stint in the NFL led to his return to college football, where he stood firmly as a giant among other coaches, winning four national championships at Alabama after taking home one at LSU.
But the conversation surrounding Saban has always revolved around whether he'd return to the NFL to win that elusive Super Bowl, or whether he'd close out his career in the college ranks.
For Saban, it sounds like he'd already made up his decision in a sit-down interview with MMQB, per Pro Football Talk:
"I guess there was a time when I said, 'O.K. if you win a national championship in college, because I was a pro coach for however many years I was, it's time to go win the Super Bowl. That would make my career complete," Saban told Emily Kaplan of TheMMQB.com. "But when I did that, I found out that I missed some of these things about college that were really important to me. So you learn about yourself. I just decided when I came back here, I wasn't going to think about that any more. . . . I used to think at the end of the day, being a head coach in the NFL was the No. 1 thing. But when I got to that, it was like, 'Well maybe you already had the No. 1 thing for you and what you like.'"
Saban coached two miserable seasons with the Miami Dolphins, registering a 15-17 record before exiting back to the college football world.
You can never say never, but at age 64, it's tough to imagine he'll be coaching much longer. Many could claim Steve Spurrier coached well past his prime, retiring at age 70 last season. And we're near certain Saban would never want to get to a point where he completely lost control of his program.
