Brett Favre makes his stance clear on Nick Saban's college football retirement

Brett Favre certainly knows a thing or two about having to reluctantly walk away from football, so his thoughts on Nick Saban's coaching retirement could yield valuable clues. Favre famously struggled to walk away from professional football and among his current ventures are the 4th and Favre podcast. He contemplated Saban's move on the podcast and offered his theory as to why the legendary coach felt compelled to retire.

Favre's thoughts

Really, I think the state of college football or college athletics is one of the major reasons, if not the only reason, why Nick Saban left. It's not necessarily about... recruiting a young player, signing him, developing him throughout his four years.... It's not about that anymore. It's about you go in and you recruit a kid and he says, 'How much are you going to pay me, coach?".... I think the older coaches certainly have a harder time with it than the younger coaches because they're entrenched in the old school mentality and it's hard to shift gears.
Brett Favre

Saban and the NIL shift

While the 74-year-old Saban seemed to show few or no slips on the field or in roster construction, many observers have noted the major sea change of NIL as a factor in driving many out of the game. It is notable that there are only three active FBS coaches left who have won national championships, and one is Dabo Swinney, who has seen his team dip from annual CFP contender to a 4-5 record.

While Saban's final two Alabama teams did miss the College Football Playoff, it's worth noting that each finished the season No. 5 in the final polls and posted 11-2 and 12-2 records. NIL policies began shifting in mid-2021 after the Supreme Court's decision in NCAA v. Alston greased the wheels for the allowance of student-athlete compensation. Accordingly, Saban did deal with an NIL culture in his final three seasons-- and he reached the national championship game in the first of those seasons.

Saban's age

Missing from Favre's comments in the simple fact of Saban's age. Maybe that's unsurprising from a quarterback who seemed to spend his later years trying to thwart time's role in ending his career, but if Saban were still active, he would be the oldest coach in FBS football as Saban is five months older than struggling UNC coach Bill Belichick and over four years older than the next-oldest FBS coach, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.