Nick Saban tells Pat McAfee 'it's kind of laughable' to think he's going to retire soon

After Alabama's home loss to Texas Saturday, college football fans began to wonder if the end of Nick Saban's tenure with the Crimson Tide was coming soon, but he doesn't see himself retiring any time soon.

The loss to the Longhorns was Saban's second nonconference home loss in his 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, with the last one coming against UL Monroe in 2007, Saban's first year. With early season losses a rarity for the Crimson Tide, questions arose about Saban's dominance in college football coming to an end, and at 71 years old, if he'd consider retiring soon.

But the seven-time national championship head coach put those rumors to rest on "The Pat McAfee Show" Thursday. Starting his weekly appearance on the show, he addressed the talk of him putting the headset down for good.

"It's kind of laughable," Saban said. "I would ask you, when's the first time you heard that I was going to retire? That started about five years ago.

"I love what I'm doing. I'm focused on the challenge. I've always said I don't want to ride the program down. I don't want to do this if I can't do it anymore, but I feel great right now. I love it. We got lots of challenges this season. I'm looking forward to it and we're all in," he added.

Saban signed a new eight-year contract worth at least $93.6 million in 2022, making him the coach for the Crimson Tide through Feb. 28, 2030. At 1-1 and ranked No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, Alabama will make a rare nonconference road trip this Saturday, heading to Tampa Bay to face South Florida.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nick Saban says 'it's kind of laughable' to think he's going to retire