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Ya Know, Time Comes For All Of Us
I am pretty sure that semi-famous picture of Belichick hugging Saban came after the 1994 Browns beat the Cowboys in Irving. Saban would soon become the head coach of Michigan State, and would only come back to the NFL for a weird stint with the Miami Dolphins, where he chose Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees as his quarterback, which didn’t end well, and that put him back in the college game at Alabama. He just retired yesterday. Could he coach again? Sure. Anything is possible — and that’s another post in the making, I.e. “Why do rich people with a lot of success keep doing things?”
All-in, Saban has been a form of a head coach since 1989, when Toledo (!) hired him. That’s over 30+ years. He was an assistant forever before that too, so he has well over 40 years in the game — college and pro.
Belichick, who is arguably the best NFL coach of all-time, has well over 40 years in the NFL. We don’t know his exact future, but it seems he might be getting put out to pasture, or becoming just a front-office guy while someone else becomes the on-field guy, etc.
What makes the mutual timing of the Saban-Belichick sideline exit thing so interesting is that they appear to be friends, and perhaps even best friends as far as the limited male definition of that…