As SEC media days wrapped up in Atlanta Thursday, its main Alabama football storyline came to a tidy end. Nick Saban’s daughter, Kristen, shut down any hope of her father leaving retirement, in an Instagram story post.

“He’s not coming back to coaching, hate to break it to you,” Kristen Saban wrote. “You had your time.”

The speculation that the 73-year-old man who won six national championships with the Crimson Tide would come out of retirement began Monday. Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy said he had heard from someone “in the know” that Saban might not be done coaching, despite leaving his post as UA’s head coach in January of 2024.

McElroy created the news during his radio show on WJOX. Throughout the rest of media days, he tried to put out the fire, noting that he himself did not believe Saban would be unretiring.

Several coaches were asked about the possibility of Saban returning. Ole Miss head coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said it wouldn’t surprise him, but Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who had long tenure as the Tide’s defensive coordinator did not sound as if he expected a move from his old boss.

“I heard all that scuttlebutt and everything about it, I almost laughed,” Smart said. “It was like somebody needed something interesting to talk about yesterday, so they chose to go to coach Saban and do it. The game’s better with him involved. He is involved. He is passionate about it. He and I still talk and share ideas from time to time about defensive philosophies and the way to do things.

“And he’s still watching tape and very, very involved in football. He loves it. And his brilliance, as brilliant as he is, is around football. I mean, it’s around scheme. It’s around another way to do something, to stay ahead of the offensive minds. And I think that’s one of the unique talents that he has, and he still loves that. He’s still passionate about that.”

With the return to coaching not happening, Saban will likely continue on his prior retirement trajectory. He won an Emmy for his first season as an analyst on ESPN’s College Gameday pregame show, and will return to the desk this fall.

Saban is also still technically on staff at Alabama, in a consultant role.