Tua Tagovailoa reacts to Nick Saban's retirement, reveals best lesson learned
Former Alabama star and current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sounded off on Nick Saban’s retirement on Friday, revealing to reporters the best lesson the legendary head coach ever taught him while in Tuscaloosa.
“I don’t know how he was able to find someone like me in Hawaii, being all the way out there in Alabama, so for me to have gotten that opportunity, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t gotten that opportunity,” he said, via David Furones. “We know how that journey went. There’s a lot of things he’s helped me with, I’m very grateful on and off the field. he will. bemissed. A lot of people are feeling him retiring and whatnot. Until next year, we’ll have to see what that looks like. Roll tide.”
The Dolphins star told reporters he hasn’t spoken to his former head coach since the retirement news broke. He’s going to let Saban’s phone cool down before reaching out. That could take days given all of the players and coaches he’s impacted over his 28 years coaching college football.
Tagovailoa hasn’t played under Nick Saban in four years. However, the lessons he learned at Alabama have carried over into his NFL career.
“There’s many lessons with Coach Saban,” Tagovailoa said. “He has a really good perspective on coach-to-player relationships and really, he just had a knack for putting players in the best position to be successful out there and hopefully, build a resume strong enough so that they could have a good future.”
Tagovailoa had one of the most storied rises to prominence in Alabama football history. Famously, Saban called on him to take over mid-game in the CFP final in 2018. He led the Tide to the national title over Georgia before taking them back to the big game in 2019. He went on to go No. 5 overall in the draft to the Dolphins. He’s now trying to get past the first round of playoffs on Saturday night.
Saban retires after 28 years in CFB
Nick Saban, who has won more college football national championships than any coach in the modern era, announced his retirement on Wednesday.
“The University of Alabama has been a very special place to Terry and me,” Saban said. “We have enjoyed every minute of our 17 years being the head coach at Alabama as well as becoming a part of the Tuscaloosa community. It is not just about how many games we won and lost, but it’s about the legacy and how we went about it. We always tried to do it the right way. The goal was always to help players create more value for their future, be the best player they could be and be more successful in life because they were part of the program. Hopefully, we have done that, and we will always consider Alabama our home.”
Saban spent 28 years as a college head coach at Toledo (1990), Michigan State (1995-99), LSU (2000-04) and Alabama (2007-23). He won seven national titles in those 28 years, his first at LSU in 2003 before capturing six championships at Alabama (2009, 2011-12, 2015, 2017 and 2020). He also coached the Miami Dolphins for two seasons (2005-06).