Nick Saban Makes His College GameDay Debut At The NFL Draft And Is An Instant Hit

Well, it's official – Nick Saban is no longer the head coach at Alabama. 

Wait, you knew that already!

Let me try it again …

Nick Saban is officially part of College GameDay, making his debut Thursday evening live from the 2024 NFL Draft. 

And guess what? He crushed it. Surprising? Nope. A little jarring to see? Yep. Did ESPN begin the unfortunate – but inevitable – process of replacing Lee Corso?

Well, I certainly think so. That's up for debate, I reckon. 

What's not, though, is the fact that Saban crushed his full-time GameDay debut. He was flawless, and social media was all over it. 

Welcome to the show, Nick!

Nick Saban draws rave reviews in College GameDay debut 

I could go on and on, but you get the point. 

Look, I'm a Nick Saban guy, so I'm obviously biased. I was beyond sad when he announced he was retiring a few months ago. Same with Bill Belichick, who is also making his ESPN debut tonight. 

But it took about five minutes of watching Nick on College GameDay to realize we'll all be just fine with him no longer on the sideline. 

He ain't going anywhere. Hell, we're gonna get MORE Saban moving forward, which means we're all gonna be way smarter. Never a bad thing. 

Was it weird seeing him ask Lincoln Riley questions? Sure. That may take a while to get used to. But he was a natural next to Pat McAfee, which isn't easy to pull off, and he didn't scare the piss out of people, which also wasn't a given, seeing as he could be pretty terrifying on the 'Bama sideline. 

As for the whole Lee Corso thing … that's just my opinion, but it's not exactly a far-fetched one. I assume Lee's years on College GameDay are numbered. I love him, but it's probably getting close to time. 

Inserting Nick Saban now, and giving him a year or two to get his feet wet, is a smart move by ESPN. We don't say that a lot, mainly because ESPN does dumb things, but this one is smart. 

And social media is clearly behind it, which also isn't a given. Half of you all still hate McAfee on Saturdays, which I can't for the life of me figure out, but whatever. 

Point is, the Nick Saban era on College GameDay is underway, and it's been pretty seamless so far. 

Can't wait for him to rip his shirt off with McAfee in a few months!