Alabama head football coach Nick Saban reiterated Friday that he has no imminent plans to retire.
During an appearance onThe Dan Patrick Show, Saban was asked about retirement and didn't give any kind of firm answer regarding when he intends on stepping away from coaching:
"I don't really think about retiring," Saban said. "I always think about what the heck am I going to do if I do retire? That's a scary thought."
Saban noted that he doesn't have to retire to pursue other interests and doesn't know how he would satiate his desire for accomplishment if he were to retire:
“I don't know if that's hard for people to understand. There's nothing that I want to do—like, some people want to go to Europe or go to Scotland and play golf and all that—I wouldn't mind doing all that stuff, but I don't have to quit my job to do it. I worry about what am I going to do if I don't do this?
"And when I say, 'What am I going to do?' I don't mean play golf or whatever. I mean, how are you going to get any kind of positive self-gratification or feeling of accomplishment when you've done something for so long that you like so much and then all of a sudden it's not there? So that's a good question. I don't really have the answer to that one."
Saban, who will turn 71 in October, is entering his 16th season as the head coach at Alabama and his 50th season in coaching overall, dating back to his first gig as a graduate assistant at Kent State in 1973.