Nick Saban snipes Greg McElroy over return rumor: 'If he had done that as a player, he would have gotten his ass kicked'

Greg McElroy began quite a storm at SEC Media Days, saying Nick Saban may not be done coaching. The legendary head coach has been retired for a couple of years now. But McElroy claims to have heard from someone that Saban could be interested in getting back into the game.

Saban has indirectly spoken on the matter since, making jokes. Monday night brought another opportunity to address his former player’s words. And this one was with a little more force, hilariously going at the former Alabama quarterback.

“You know, I don’t know where that came from,” Saban said. “Greg McElroy played quarterback for us and if he had done something like that when he was a player, he would have gotten his ass kicked.”

McElroy likely knows a thing or two about making Saban upset. While he spent two seasons as the starting quarterback, seemingly nobody on Alabama was safe from Saban’s wrath at times. Whether it was in practice or a game, McElroy probably got a few butt chewings.

Winning a national championship might have helped. McElroy was the starter back in 2009, the first of what turned into six titles with Saban in Tuscaloosa. Just before retiring, he was close to snagging another one but lost in the College Football Playoff semifinal to Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

As mentioned, there have been jokes from Saban about coming out of retirement. One came earlier in the summer when appearing on Fox & Friends. Miss Terry was involved, with Saban saying some chores had him reconsidering.

“It’s amazing to me that came up in the media and the media speaks for you, and thinks for you,” Saban said. “I never really had a thought about getting back into coaching until two days ago. Miss Terry said I had to run the sweeper in the entire downstairs. While I was running the sweeper, the thought occurred to me, when you were a coach, you had a heck of a lot better job than this. So that’s the only time I considered it.”

For now, Saban remains retired from coaching and a member of the media. He is scheduled to once again appear on ESPN College GameDay this season, joining the likes of Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, and Kirk Herbstreit. If there was going to be a time to get a new job, it would be once the season in concluded and the carousel gets spinning.