Paul Finebaum: It was 'very odd' not seeing Nick Saban coaching A-Day

Nick Saban attended the Alabama spring game this past weekend, but for the first time in nearly 20 years, he wasn’t coaching on the sideline.

Instead, Saban watched the scrimmage from a box alongside family and friends, including Miss Terry.

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum joined McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning recently and shared what it was like watching an Alabama spring game with Nick Saban not coaching.

“It was very odd,” Paul Finebaum said. “I mean, some of us have seen other coaches [at Alabama], but a lot of the young people have not. And it’s just incredibly weird for me to see him sitting in the press box or in a luxury box with a roster watching the game.”

Saban announced that he was retiring in January and was replaced by Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer not long after.

Nick Saban won seven national titles during his coaching career, including six during his time at Alabama. Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.

“I mean, these are all his players, and it was surreal,” Finebaum said. “And I know we’re not going to see much more of that, if any of that. He’ll be gone for most of Alabama’s game, except one, but it takes some getting used to.”

Nick Saban will be working with ESPN College GameDay this fall, so he won’t be around as much during the season, but even for a spring game, it was strange for Finebaum to see him up in a box and not down on the field.

As he pointed out, this is a pretty unique situation for a coaching legend.

“Not to go back 40 years, but we never saw Bear Bryant do that, because he died 26 days later. So there’s almost nothing to really compare it to,” Finebaum said. “Yea, you see [Mike] Krzyzewski at Duke games, and I saw John Wooden at UCLA games. But in terms of the absolute giants in football or sports history, this is a rare sight. Especially at a spring game, let alone the Georgia game or something else.”

With spring practice complete, Alabama now turns its attention to the regular season.

The Crimson Tide finished 12-2 last season, falling to Michigan in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

The 2024 season gets underway on Saturday, Aug. 31 when Alabama hosts Western Kentucky. The SEC opener for the Crimson Tide comes Saturday, Sept. 28 when the Georgia Bulldogs come to town.