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He can’t be certain, but Alabama head coach Nick Saban feels that NFL coaching life might’ve passed up the college coaching life in terms of demand. And while college coaching salaries have skyrocketed the last two decades, even a top-of-market coach like Saban still makes less than his NFL peers.
The main thing that ails college football for coaches, Saban said, is not that there’s more to do or it’s more demanding than coaching in the NFL. It’s that the college calendar has major events overlapping in ways the NFL does not.
Whereas free agency, the draft, and the season are all well sequestered in the NFL, college coaches have early signing day just days after the regular season ends and while many are preparing for a bowl. On top of that, there’s now the transfer portal. Plus, it’s not like recruiting isn’t a year-round endeavor, anyways.
“I think it’s great to coach in the NFL. I think there was a time when coaching the college lifestyle was probably a little better. I think right now, based on the circumstances that we’ve created in college football, lifestyle is a little bit better in the NFL,” Saban said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday.
Saban shared that there are aspects of both lifestyles that he enjoys.
“So, but you know, every guy — you know some guys love recruiting, they like relationships, they like trying to help guys develop when they’re young people, which I’ve always kind of enjoyed that part of it in college football, but I also really enjoy the competitive edge that the NFL has. The best teams, the best players are competing against each other and 70% of the games are, you know, decided by a touchdown or less. So it’s really, really great, you know, coaching those kinds of competitors and those kind of players. So there’s good and bad and both,” Saban said.
And where to stay long term, Saban said, is really a matter of preference that coaches figure out. Given his track record and seeming contentedness coaching in the college ranks, he seems to have sorted out his choice in the matter, even if life is a little harder now.
“I just tried to lay that out for guys and say it’s kind of, you know, what you choose and what you enjoy doing the most that will make you the most happy,” Saban said.
