What goes around comes around! For someone who has been a coach for over 50 years, Nick Saban has seen generations of players come and go. In this dynasty of a career, he’s seen his fair share of ups and downs. From not seeing success before the 2000s, Nick Saban has been one of the most successful coaches in history and the connection that is being drawn between Tyler Booker and his uncle is absolutely dumbfounding.

Nick Saban, the former coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide, retired from the sport this year after failing to bring in a trophy since 2020. He was with the team for over 17 seasons and brought in a total of 6 championships, making Alabama a dominant force for almost a decade. When he joined in 2007, nobody would have predicted that he’d become the face of Alabama in a few years and thus, his retirement this year made it feel like a part of college football left with him. For such a long run in coaching, Saban has probably trained the fathers of the sons who are currently playing for Alabama and that’s exactly what’s been revealed by Tyler Booker, the offensive lineman for the team.

Tyler Booker reveals an insane connection between his uncle and Saban

What will make Saban’s run with Michigan State more memorable is the fact that he unknowingly trained Tyler Booker’s uncle under him! Tyler Booker, who played under Saban for 2 years (2022-2023), spoke about his uncle’s connection with Saban during the SEC media day. ‘Nick Kelly’ quoted this in his tweet that said, “Tyler Booker mentioned today his uncle played for Nick Saban at Michigan State“. Safe to say, in his 17-season run, Saban must’ve seen many generations and coached them too.

However, his run as the HC for Michigan State, especially in the 90s cannot be ignored. During the years of 1995-1997, Nick Saban was the head coach for Michigan State. Since 1990, the team has not achieved a winning season, and the NCAA has also sanctioned them for recruiting violations committed by the previous coach, George Perles. His best season with the Spartans came in 1999 when Saban led the team to a 9-2 season, after which, he resigned from his role as HC and moved on to join LSU. Nick Saban has been a phenom of the sport but as per reports, his untimely retirement didn’t stem from positive reasons as the 72-year-old coach sounded frustrated by the end of the season.

Did Nick Saban retire out of agitation from college football?

Though there have been several instances in the past where Saban has mentioned how he felt like it was time to hang his cape and spend more time with his family rather than be the man on the gridiron, his last few statements as the HC for Alabama made it sound like he was fed up with how his team reacted to their Rose Bowl win.

His statement to ESPN read, “I want to be clear that wasn’t the reason, but some of those events certainly contributed. I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. Saban also added while the loss at the hands of Michigan wasn’t the official reason for his exit, the players’ personalities through it all definitely made him rethink continuing with this generation of college football.

“You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn’t do it, and then showing your ass and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff … that’s not who we are and what we’ve promoted in our program,” Saban stated how sportsmanship is important in a game like football.

Saban further added that the situation didn’t feel right anymore and that the players were more motivated by money, which isn’t what he’s been used to. He said, “So I’m saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn’t work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it’s all about how much money can I make as a college player?’ I’m not saying that’s bad. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that’s never been what we were all about, and it’s not why we had success through the years.” This can be seen in the recent uproar when it comes to NIL deals.

Thus, while the fans and the entire community will miss him dearly, Saban doesn’t look like he has any wishes to return or be involved with football at the moment. He will be beginning his career as a sports analyst and he will be watching from afar just like the fans.