“I was expecting him to come a day kind of rip us about Michigan game”: Alabama’s Tyler Booker opens up about former HC Nick Saban’s retirement
Nick Saban shocked his team and the college football world by announcing his retirement as the Alabama Crimson Tide head coach in January. About four months after the shock announcement, offensive guard Tyler Booker opened up about his initial reaction to the decision. According to him, he hadn't expected the legendary coach to walk away at the time that he did.
Booker appeared on the ‘Bussin with the Boys’ podcast along with QB Jalen Milroe three weeks ago. Both of them talked about their time under Coach Saban, among various other stories from their careers. During the podcast, he was asked about the effects of the seven-time national champion coach’s retirement.
Here is what the Alabama Crimson Tide star Tyler Booker said about Nick Saban's move to step down.
“I was hurt, obviously. That was my initial reaction. Like ‘oh my gosh’, like I was expecting him to come in there and kinda rip us for the Michigan game. Not so much rip us but like ‘hey this is why we lost it, here's how we’re gonna correct it here’s how we’re gonna get back there and go further’. So for him to go up there and retire was kind of a shock to me,” Tyler Booker told Will Compton and Taylor Lewan.
Booker added that he has now embraced the fact, as he has always been big on leaving a legacy. According to him, there is no bigger legacy than winning a national championship. Now a new era has begun in Tuscaloosa and the team will try to make a run to the challenge for the national title.
Nick Saban didn't want to ride the program down
Nick Saban had himself opened up about his retirement decision while making an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show. He said that he spent 50 years of his life in a hurry, always working and preparing for a game or a season and even recruitment. But when he retired, he wasn't in a hurry anymore.
“I wish we’d have won the Playoff game this year... We had a good team coming back, but I didn’t want to ride the program down,” he said on the show.
Coach Saban joined Alabama in 2007 and over the next 17 years, he solidified the Crimson Tide as the dominant force in college football. He won six national titles with the team and sent countless players into the NFL. Now he has ridden into the sunset and handed over the keys to his successor, Kalen DeBoer.