Nick Saban may have retired from Alabama as the greatest college football coach to ever live, but do you know what that means? He’s retired now.
That makes him a regular person like you and me. Well, not exactly like you and me. He probably never has to pay for anything in Alabama again, and he’s surely recognized by people everywhere.
But hey! He can’t just walk around all willy-nilly doing whatever he wants to do. There are rules, Nick. You’ve got to follow them now.
He found that out the hard way at SEC Media Day. Saban told a story on ESPN’s Get Up about being turned back at the door of SEC Media Day because he left his media credentials in his hotel room.
Nick Saban on the difference of attending SEC Media Days as Alabama's head coach and as a member of the media: "It's a little different. I've never worn a credential in my life and was always for 17 years able to get into SEC Media Day without a credential. I had to go back to… pic.twitter.com/hvHwdfAsIU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 15, 2024
“It’s a little different. I’ve never worn a credential for my life and was always, for 17 years, able to get into SEC Media Day without a credential. I had to go back to the room today to get my credential to get in. So that’s one of the biggest changes I see. It’s not like it used to be.”
That’s hilarious. But there’s a bit more to the story than that. It wasn’t just that Saban was turned around — it was who turned him around.
AL dot com did some digging and found out that former four-star recruit wideout Kiante Griffin was working the security checkpoint alongside his grandmother.
First of all, what a combo. Right? Not only do you have a former recruit working security, but you got grandma too?!? And she wasn’t letting anything slide.
Griffin told AL he was willing to let Saban go through. But grandma? Nah. Nick Saban wasn’t getting by her.
“Griffin was ready to let it slide.
‘I was like ‘I think everybody should know who you are. There’s a credential desk right here. You can probably just get another one.’ But he ended up just going back up to his room.’
His grandmother was playing it more by the book.
‘They told us everybody had to have their credentials,’ she said. ‘Period,’.”
Everybody. That includes you, Nick Saban. Remember that from now on.
