Deion Sanders shares his take on why Nick Saban retired

Deion Sanders has his inkling as to why Nick Saban chose to finally retire from coaching after more than a decade and a half at Alabama. And it has to do with the changing nature of college football.

Sanders doesn’t think Saban retired out of protest or anything like that — the head coach had shown he was adept at maneuvering as necessary to keep winning with NIL and the transfer portal, among other changes — but because the new way or succeeding in college football just might not have been worth it anymore. He explained his thinking with Robert Griffin III on “RGIII and The Ones.”

“Mainly because I know him and I know his art and I know he loves this game,” Sanders said. “But when you’re sitting there watching how this thing plays out and you’re watching the obstacles you gotta go through and you’re seeing — you’re dealing with parents that are parents-slash-agents, homie-slash-the bagman. You’re dealing with so much craziness. And I get it, so I know he’s getting it at a whole ‘nother level, because I get it when I’m meeting with parents and these young men. Old school guys that were built and built their lives on hard work, dedication and trying to treat people right, they don’t see that formula work anymore. But it still does, but they don’t have the time. Coach has done some tremendous things in our game. Coach is financially secure, times 20. It’s like, ‘Man, I don’t need this. I don’t need this.'”

Sanders also theorized that him having college-aged children while Saban’s are older plays a role.

“He’s just different, he’s built different. I’m built different. But I have young kids, pretty much. So I can kind of relate to the times and the game. And you know how we deal with our kids, like we in it,” Sanders said.

As for what comes next for Saban, Sanders is hopeful the legendary coach is still game to appear in Aflac ads alongside him. He also wants to keep pinging him for advice.

He also showered some praise on Saban’s wife, Terry — better known as Miss Terry.

“Man, I just hope we do something with Aflac again because I like to glean from him every year. I like to call him and ask his advice on certain things. There’s one thing he told me that I should’ve done, that I didn’t do, and it cost me,” Sanders said, refusing to let listeners in on what the issue was. “I can’t tell you what it is. I gotta give you the suspense, the drama of it. But I told him the situation, I told him what transpired. And he told me how he handled that before and how I should’ve handled it. And I didn’t. Because I’m just different. I should’ve listened, but the ridicule and the scrutiny, to me, as an African-American coach, is 10 fold. And I gotta think of all this here. That’s a good man, I love him,” Sanders said.

He continued: “And his wife? Should teach a class of all coaches wives, girlfriends, whatever, she should teach a class on how to handle the stage. And she’s not behind him, she’s right there with him. And you’re talking about a commitment to excellence? Wow.”