$80 million worth Nick Saban shares heartwarming moment with media at 2024 Regions Tradition Pro-Am: "Can't tell you how much I missed y'all"

Former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban made his annual appearance at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am tournament on Wednesday. He appeared at the event held at the Greystone Golf & Country Club, Birmingham, alongside new Bama coach Kalen DeBoer.

While speaking to the pool of reporters after a round, the $80 million worth Saban (as per Forbes) shared a heartwarming moment with them.

"How are we doing? Good to see you guys. Can't tell you how much I missed y'all," Saban said. "Really the only reason I came here was to see y'all."

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Nick Saban details life post-retirement

Contrary to what most college football fans thought when Nick Saban announced his surprise retirement in January, the 72-year-old has not disappeared from public life and has had a full social calendar.

While speaking to the media during the Regions Tradition Pro-Am Tournament, Saban revealed what he misses the most about being a football coach.

“Relationships with players,” Nick Saban said. “I actually played golf with Mark Ingram and Tua [Tagovailoa], had them up on Monday. Those relationships you have with players, man. There’s nothing that beats that. But we care about them all, so we continue with the relationships.”

The former Crimson Tide coach, who is a big golf fan, has taken to the course with renewed enthusiasm after his retirement, regularly playing a few rounds each morning before attending to his other interests.

Saban owns several car dealerships, and alongside a job as an analyst on ESPN's "College GameDay," he still maintains an office at the Bryant-Denny, where he's helping to make the transition to new coach Kalen DeBoer smoother.

Saban also revealed the flipside of retirement and the things that he can finally do due to not living the life of a busy college football coach.

“The biggest change for me as a person is that I lived my whole life for the last 50 years being in a hurry,” Saban said in an interview with ESPN. “It was, ‘Hurry up to go here. Hurry up to go there. Don’t be late for this meeting. You’ve got another meeting in an hour. What are you going to say to the staff? What are you going to say to the team?’ I mean, it was just deadline after deadline after deadline. Even when I was driving to the lake to go on vacation, I’d be in a hurry, and for what? But that’s just how you were built.”

The post-retirement life seems to be agreeing with Nick Saban even as college football fans adjust to seeing him away from the sidelines.