Read the postcard retired Alabama coach Nick Saban got from college football | Goodbread
Postcard from college football to Nick Saban:
Feb. 7, 2024
Greetings, Nick!
Gee, hard to believe it's already been a month since you retired! How's the sun and fun on Jupiter Island going? Golf game getting sharp? You and Tiger Woods must be chipping balls back and forth from your backyards by now. I see it's supposed to get up to 77 degrees this Saturday. In February! Must be nice. Can't say the same about the weather here. Storm clouds keep gathering.
Let me catch you up.
Remember those NIL rules that nobody was following? Well, the NCAA decided to scattershot some enforcement. FSU got hit with probation, scholarship reductions, and the suspension of an assistant coach.
That happened before you even had your office cleaned out.
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Florida is also under investigation. So is Tennessee, where the attorney general has responded with an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. Virginia's attorney general is in on it, too; they're asking for a TRO (temporary restraining order) to prohibit the NCAA from enforcing the rules it really can't enforce anyway. Fun, huh?
Seems you pulled the cord on that golden parachute with impeccable timing.
If you thought the transfer portal was a disaster while you were coaching, you should've seen the feeding frenzy that descended on Tuscaloosa after you left. That 30-day portal window that opens for schools that lose a coach hits like a locust plague. Lane Kiffin even took pictures.
Man, I wish I could be there, hitting the links and working on that tan. You using SPF-50 or what?
The SEC and the Big Ten formed some sort of joint advisory group, which is intended to “take a leadership role in developing solutions for a sustainable future of college sports." It caused a tremor up here at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. We get a lot of those these days. The building inspector is here now with his clipboard, checking on the foundation. He's shaking his head.
I'm sure you'll hear about it on SportsCenter.
Not even 48 hours after this SEC-Big Ten alliance was announced, your old pal Greg Sankey at the SEC and the new Big Ten commish expressed concerns about the future of the College Football Playoff (oh, the timing!). Remember that 12-team playoff format you just missed out on? Yeah, it's only contracted for the next two years. After that, who knows? By 2026, we might be looking at the Power 2 trying to do its own thing. Smells like a power play.
If you're still trading in your jet skis every year, I can take the old ones off your hands.
Seen the schedule your replacement, Kalen DeBoer, faces his first year? On top of the usual grinds against Tennessee, LSU and Auburn, he's also catching Georgia, plus road trips to Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the SEC is still stuck on whether it wants to stick with eight conference games or go to nine, and full voting rights are right around the corner for Texas and OU. You should drop in on SEC Spring Meetings in Destin this May just to watch the battle. The beach and the weather are ... never mind, you've got that every day now. Hang on, Nick, a courier just walked in with certified mail. New lawsuit, looks like.
You renting out the Lake Burton place? Let me know. I could use a getaway.
Sincerely,
Your old profession
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: College football's postcard to retired Alabama coach Nick Saban
