Sean Gallagher

College football is rapidly changing. Whether it’s Name, Image and Likeness, the loosening of the transfer portal, the College Football Playoff expanding from 4 to 12 teams, or the major conference realignment coming, it’s a new era for the game at the FBS level.

With all this happening, it was the right time for Nick Saban to call it a career following 17 seasons at Alabama, where he won six national titles and made his program the measuring stick when it came to success in the final years of the BCS era and the first decade of the College Football Playoff.

Saban was never crazy about NIL or the expanded transfer portal, which is only going to help other major programs compete at Alabama’s level, which some like Georgia, Clemson and Michigan have been able to reach in recent years.

There’s nothing more for Saban to prove in Tuscaloosa. At 72, he’s leaving on a high note, winning the SEC championship, qualifying for the Playoff in his final year, getting out before the game enters a new period on July 1st.

How the Alabama football program moves forward post-Saban will be interesting to watch, and how his successor handles the pressure.