Nick Saban's daughter-in-law Samira Saban gets emotional as shop in Tuscaloosa pays tribute to former Alabama HC

The retirement of former Alabama coach Nick Saban sent shockwaves throughout the Tuscaloosa community. The tributes for the legendary coach have not stopped pouring in, and a shop in Tuscaloosa was the latest to join in, thanking Saban for his Alabama tenure.

The shop hung a banner that said:

"Thank You Coach Saban! 17 great years 6 national championships."

Samira Saban, who is married to Nick's son, Nicholas, got emotional and reacted with teary-eyes emojis.

Image via Instagram

Samira Saban's passionate support of Alabama

Samira Saban has endeared herself to Alabama fans with her passionate support of the Crimson Tide.

She most recently made herself a Tide hero with an Instagram post about not liking the Tennessee Volunteers before the team's third Saturday of October clash.

Image via Instagram

Was Nick Saban ill?

The news that Nick Saban was retiring was unexpected. The former Alabama Crimson Tide coach explained that he was unsure of the decision until a few minutes before his Wednesday team meeting.

Speaking to ESPN's Rece Davis, Saban set the record straight as to why he retired, with speculation flying around the college football fraternity that he was ill.

“To be honest, this last season was grueling,” Saban said. “It was a real grind for us to come from where we started to where we got to. It took a little more out of me than usual. When people mentioned the health issue, it was really just the grind.

“It put a little more stress on me, made me feel like maybe I wasn’t doing as good a job as I needed to in other parts of our team. I just have a high standard for how I do things. If I don’t feel like I’m living up to that standard, I’m really disappointed. … I felt like I could have done a better job if I was younger.”

For many coaches, just getting to the Rose Bowl would have been a massive achievement, but not for Saban, who outlined how he felt that he had slipped in the loss to the Michigan Wolverines.

“Yeah, but we didn’t get in the national championship game, and I felt like if I’d done a better job, Michigan wouldn’t have scored to tie it up 20-20, (or) we would have had a better play to run on 4th and 3 at the (3-yard line) to keep the overtime going,” Saban said.

Regardless of his reasons for retiring, Nick Saban will always be regarded as one of college football's greats.