It has been two years since Nick Saban stepped away from coaching, yet his name still surfaces whenever a top job opens. Despite Saban and his wife, Terry, repeatedly saying they’re enjoying retirement, his influence on the sport has never been stronger.
Ironically, the very reasons Saban cited for retiring are the same reasons an unprecedented return now makes sense.
When Saban walked away, he pointed to a rapidly changing college football landscape—Name, Image and Likeness, the transfer portal and a calendar that prioritizes money and movement over development and continuity. Those problems haven’t gone away. If anything, they’ve intensified.
That’s where the NCAA has a rare, history-defining opening.
A role college football desperately needs
College football’s biggest structural flaw is obvious. There is no unified authority over the Power Four conferences. Any meaningful change must be negotiated between leagues with competing interests. The result is counterproductive. The solution is straightforward by creating a Power Four commissioner.
And if such a role were created, there may be only one figure capable of commanding instant, unanimous legitimacy. Of course, that would be Saban.
The college football coaching GOAT has spoken openly about the need for reform, from fixing the calendar, moving early signing day and the transfer portal until after the national championship, to addressing competitive balance in an NIL era without guardrails. His credibility spans every conference, every power broker, and every level of the sport.
The George Washington parallel
The analogy fits. George Washington was not meant to rule forever. He was meant to define the office, turnaround a chaotic system, and then step aside. Saban could do the same.
This wouldn’t be about crowning a “king of college football.” It would be a short-term, high-impact appointment. Establish rules, unify governance, restore order, and leave the sport better than he found it.
If the NCAA truly wants leadership and credibility during college football’s most unstable era, there is one job, and one person, that makes sense.
Saban doesn’t need to coach again.
But college football may need him one last time.
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