Nick Saban returning to coaching? UGA’s Kirby Smart weighs in on hot topic at SEC Media Days

ATLANTA—Nick Saban is set to start a second season as an analyst on the popular Saturday morning ESPN College Football GameDay show.

Unlike last year when he was on the SEC Network set at SEC Media Days, the legendary former Alabama coach isn’t part of the programming this week for the annual event.

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A former quarterback who played for him, Greg McElroy, and his former offensive coordinator, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, have thrown out the notion that Saban may not be done coaching just yet.

So what does Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, Saban’s most successful former assistant thinks what’s ahead for Saban?

“That’s not happening, I don’t think Nick’s coming back,” Smart said on Tuesday July 15 at SEC Media Days. “I think he’s too happy where he is. I think y’all are lacking buzz and they needed some buzz yesterday. That was the only thing that could generate some buzz besides Lane and Hugh (Freeze) feud over the internet. There’s just not a lot there.”

Saban will turn 74 on Halloween. Bill Belichick will coach his first season at North Carolina starting next month at age 73.

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“I don’t think he’s done,” Kiffin told reporters on Monday. “I think he’ll be back. Whether that’s college or NFL I think he’ll be back.”

Later on the SEC Network set, Kiffin said he has thought Saban would return on the sideline in the NFL.

“He’s so sharp and has the process so nailed of how to do it,” he said. “I almost see it as a waste that he’s not coaching.

It started with McElory son WJOX on Monday afternoon.

“A very much in the know person that I have a lot of respect for and have spent a lot of time around and just really, really admire, they seem to think Nick Saban is not done coaching,” McElroy said. “He’s pretty adamant that he thinks Nick Saban will be coaching again.”

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Smart said he speaks to Saban “pretty regularly and I don’t see it. It’s one of those things that if he wanted to he’d be unbelievable at it, but he’s overqualified for our positions.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football’s Kirby Smart adds take on Nick Saban coaching again