You never know when, like a trap door, a media story is going to appear out of nowhere and swallow you whole. But one appeared early Monday morning when Greg McElroy opened SEC media days by sharing speculation from an unnamed source that the source believes Nick Saban will coach again.
A former Alabama quarterback turned ESPN college football analyst, McElroy runs in circles with people close to Saban. Still, we've got a story out of someone "very much in the know" simply thinking Saban will come back to coach.
But now that we're here, someone else close to Saban went on the record saying that not only thinks Saban will coach again, but actively wants him to do so (just not against him): Lane Kiffin. Appearing on SEC Network on Monday, Kiffin was asked about the Saban-to-??? speculation and said this: "I have thought that. I thought it would probably be one year in the media and then back, and I kind of thought it might be the NFL, just because he's so sharp still. He's so sharp and he has the process so nailed of how to do it, I almost see it as a waste that he's not coaching."
The panel then talked about the "addiction to the grass" that many in coaching feel, and Kiffin said Saban's was the highest of anyone. "He's the same guy that goes to little kids camp and he is coaching it the same way because he's so into it. He's screaming at them. Half the kids don't come the second day to camp. It goes from like 1,000 to 500, and then the third day there's 100."
The 73-year-old Saban will certainly miss a second straight season of coaching, though if he's actually missing it is apparently up for debate. NFL success is the one unchecked box from his resume, though it seems dubious at best he'd want to try to climb that mountain again at age 74 in 2026 -- though it would admittedly be interesting to see Saban coaching in the NFL while Bill Belichick is coaching in college.
All in all, it's a shame no one at ESPN has Saban's number and can ask him his future plans himself.