Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne sat in the back of the room, prepared for two possibilities.
He would either disappear out of the meeting, or he would take over the meeting with the Alabama football team. That depended on what Nick Saban was about to tell the team on Jan. 10, 2024.
“I said to Coach Saban, ‘if you start talking about offseason workouts and academics and priorities, then I’m going to disappear out of the back of the room,‘” Byrne said on the latest episode of ‘The Tides that Bind’ documentary on FOX Nation. “Nobody knows I was going to be there. But I said ‘if you start doing the retirement speech, that’s when the plan starts going into place.‘”
As the world knows, Saban retired, setting into motion a chaotic 49 hours that led to Alabama hiring Kalen DeBoer as the next football coach. Byrne, among other staffers for the program, shared their perspectives and new details on the last meeting Saban held with the Crimson Tide in the most recent episode of the documentary released Wednesday.
Jan. 10, 2024 began as just another day. “It seemed like a normal day,” said Jeff Springer, associate AD of equipment operations.
Then everything changed around 4 p.m.
“When Coach Saban first got on stage, he was having his normal conversations like we were getting ready to go fight for another championship,” said HaHa Clinton-Dix, a director of player development. “Towards the end of the conversations in this meeting, he started stumbling a little bit. Like started getting kind of teary eyed. You can feel the energy change in the room.
Then Saban shared he was done. After a legendary career with six national championships over 17 years at Alabama and seven national championships overall, he was retiring.
“The players are like shocked,” said Denzel Devall, a director of player development. “I think staff members are shocked. Everybody is in disbelief like it’s a dream. When he walks off the stage, that’s when reality hits like, ‘damn, the GOAT gone.’”
Once Saban finished speaking, Byrne walked to the front of the meeting room.
Guys what do you think of Coach Saban?
Everyone cheered. Then Saban left. Byrne “went after the team” and called out a few leaders.
Are you going to hold this thing together? Are you going to hold the locker room together?
Byrne also asked for the players to give him 72 hours before they made any decisions. The sharks were immediately circling because a transfer portal window opened up for 30 days the moment Saban called it a career.
“I don’t think it’s unfair to use the word panic and understandably so,” said Jeff Allen, senior associate AD for health and performance. “For the players, I think for a lot of us in the building.”
Then 49 hours later, Byrne brought DeBoer from Seattle to Tuscaloosa, to begin a new era of Alabama football.
