Terrion Arnold just pulled back the curtain on Nick Saban’s role with Alabama

Much has been speculated about Nick Saban’s role with the Alabama football program after he retired two years ago, and the reins were handed to Kalen DeBoer as his successor. Theories range from Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos’s, “they don’t have Saban to save them,” to rival fan bases claiming Saban is still running the show, at least on the recruiting trail. 

Now, former Alabama star cornerback and 2024 first-round pick of the Detroit Lions, Terrion Arnold, weighed in with his thoughts about how his former coach is handling retirement. 

You hear that, Castellanos? Saban might die to save Alabama. 

It hasn’t been explicitly stated what Saban’s role with the Crimson Tide has become, but while he may have been a bit hyperbolic, Arnold is probably closer to the truth than opposing quarterbacks or angry rival fan bases. Saban is the type of maniacal worker who probably needs a bit more to his life than weekly College Gameday shows on ESPN. So, when Alabama finds itself in a pinch, DeBoer can call on his predecessor and the greatest coach in the history of college football for help. 

That situation came up this offseason, not to draw up a play, but to help recruit for an official visit weekend while DeBoer was away attending the funeral of Keelon Russell’s twin sister, Kierston. 

Saban’s presence in Tuscaloosa, not just as the namesake of the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium or from the stock trophy cases, will continue to add value to the program much in the way that another iconic coaching legend, Mike Krzyzewski, continues to contribute to the Duke Blue Devils and Jon Scheyer. 

Compared to Duke, the Tide are even luckier to have Saban’s help. Coach K handpicked Scheyer to take over the program. Scheyer was his former player on a national championship-winning team and an assistant coach for years in Durham. It was a seamless transition. Conversely, Alabama had to undergo a full coaching search to commit to DeBoer, plucking him away from the Washington Huskies after falling one win shy of a national championship in the 2024 College Football Playoff. 

Not every legend would have been so eager to help the program after calling it quits, and not every coach following that type of legend would be able to hand the looming specter of a seven-time national champion. DeBoer and Saban appear, at least from the outside, to have struck a perfect equilibrium. DeBoer’s recruiting victories are his own, but when he needs a little help, who better to call than Nick Saban?