For years, Nick Saban always got the same question at the Nick’s Kids annual luncheon.
How’s the team?
“Now I get asked, “How’s retirement?” Saban said.
His wife, Terry Saban, gave a glimpse into what that has been like since Nick retired from coaching in January as she spoke in front of hundreds of people at the Zone in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Wednesday. She shared some comical retirement stories about her husband at the event where their foundation gave away more than $625,000 to more than 100 organizations that support children, family, teacher and student causes, per the Nick’s Kids Foundation.
Terry shared how she and Nick stopped at McDonald’s recently. They ordered out of Nick’s window in the drive-through. Terry offered him the credit card.
“They take credit cards at McDonald’s?” Nick replied.
Another story: The night Nick accepted the Icon Award at the ESPY’s in July, he gave a speech. But before he went up to speak, Terry quietly nudged him.
“Nick give me your gum,” Terry said.
“I already put it under my chair,” Nick replied.
A couple other things Terry mentioned about Nick in retirement.
- Nick now knows where most of the light switches are in the house.
- Nick has improved his texting speed. “From one word per minute to one and a half words per minute,” Terry said.
- He can almost get through an entire red light without him asking “How long is this going to last?”
- Nick has learned after he plays golf, he should stay and play cards. “He’s a quick learner,” Terry said.
With no football to coach anymore, Nick has more time on his hands. But he’s staying plenty busy. His work at ESPN will keep him plenty busy, as will golf and other endeavors. Retirement will also allow more time for his involvement with Nick’s Kids, and he and Terry have a vision for it in this new chapter.
“We’d like to sort of make it bigger,” Nick said. “I always look at the Jimmy V foundation as something that has been tremendously impactful for pediatric cancer. To continue to try to grow to be something that can have a national impact would be my vision for what we want to try to accomplish and what we want to try to do.”
