Josh Pate hammers home seismic shift Nick Saban retirement caused in college football

Jan. 10, 2024, was one of the bigger days in modern college football. Nick Saban decided to step away from the sport, retiring as Alabama‘s head coach. The man who won six national titles in Tuscaloosa — plus another at LSU — was no longer going to be on the sidelines.

Of all the changes in recent times for college football, Josh Pate believes Saban’s retirement is bigger than any. When having a larger discussion about the SEC, Pate explained why Saban stepping away caused such a seismic shift.

“Saban retiring, in any era, was going to fundamentally impact the death grip the SEC had on college football,” Pate said via Bussin’ With The Boys. “Because it wasn’t the SEC that had a death grip, it was Alabama, led by Nick Saban. Ten of the last 11 SEC Championships were either won by Bama or Georgia.”

For the most part, Kirby Smart was the only head coach to keep up with Saban for a period of time on the national stage. He might not have had the best head-to-head record against his former boss. However, Georgia has consistently won the SEC and appeared in the College Football Playoff since 2017, taking home two national championships.

Keeping up in recent years was difficult for Saban, something he recently admitted. Specifically, the 2023 season, when Alabama lost to Michigan in the CFP semifinals. Many wonder if it was NIL or the NCAA transfer portal drove Saban away.

Pate will admit that might be true. But he says Saban could have retired, no matter what era college football was in, and the impact still would have been as great.

“You could come back to me and say ‘What if I told you he retired because of the way NIL was impacting the sport?’ You could have some validity there, I don’t doubt that,” Pate said. “If the NIL thing never changed and Saban retired, that would have fundamentally changed the SEC. It would have fundamentally changed college football. Nick Saban retiring was a bombshell, it was like an asteroid into the ocean.”

Rumors of Saban returning have swirled since SEC Media Days. If he were to get back, the shift could be just as drastic, depending on where he lands. Until then, Saban continues his retired life with ESPN as an analyst of College GameDay, hoping to impact college football in a completely new way.