Jalen Milroe knew exactly when Nick Saban was going to retire

When Nick Saban announced his retirement following the 2024 season, it caught many by surprise especially his football team.

After narrowly losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl, the team believed it’d be business as usual during their end of year meeting. But Saban had other ideas, and instead decided that his career in coaching had come to an end.

But leading up to the announcement there were a few tells that slightly tipped off quarterback Jalen Milroe who had an idea that Saban would be walking away from the game.

“Coach Saban never moved meetings around, Milroe said during an appearance on the Closed on Sundays podcast. “If anything they’d get moved later or earlier but not the next day.”

Following the season, Saban would usually sit down with the team to go over the year and where improvements could be made before getting into the offseason schedule. But Saban pushed back the meeting and extra day to decide on his future.

Even that day, Saban showed up one minute late which hinted even more at a major announcement.

“Coach would usually come in there (meeting room) about 1:59, he would stroll out there, and, you know, walk on stage and talk with the team,” Milroe said. “He came in at 2:01, right? And he walks on stage and says what he has to say about the season. We’re thinking, it’s gonna be strictly addressing the season, how last season went. Talk about [how] it’s a new vision, new team. This is the mission that we need to attack this year. Go on the board, say this is our offseason program. That’s what goes on. That’s what we thought.

“He talked about himself. I had never seen him talk about himself. He started going on a whole rant about, you know, how he thought he did, how he could have done a better job, and he wrapped up saying ‘I felt as though I need to retire.’ I kid you not, all our phones started buzzing.”

Saban ended his career at Alabama going 206-29 while winning six of his seven national championships with the Crimson Tide.