CFB fans left flabbergasted with 7X national champ Nick Saban's post-retirement look: "Aging like fine wine" "Looks 10 years younger"

Even after retirement, former Alabama coach Nick Saban will continue to maintain an office at the Bryant-Denny Stadium. Away from football, his daughter Kristen Saban recently posted a picture of herself on vacation in Georgia with the seven-time national champion, and college football fans noticed the changes in the legendary coach. A fan tweet summarised his new look well:

"Coach got the hair to the side, little beard action going on, and a smile. Retirement looks good on him."

Fans couldn't help but be in awe of the former coach's relaxed look.

"That man aging like fine wine," one fan tweeted.

"A few months away from the game and he looks 10 years younger," another fan tweeted.

"Living his best life and deservedly so!" A fan commented.

An aspect of Nick Saban's coaching was discipline, which was reflected in his neat look. With him growing a beard in retirement, fans were left surprised.

"The SEC better be glad he retired before they had to deal with bearded Saban.. that would have been a whole new level of problem!" Another fan tweeted.

"Omg, I literally gasped when I saw him with this beard😍," a fan chimed in.

"The world wasn’t ready for bearded Saban until he hung up the headset," a fan said.

A few fans reminisced about his coaching days.

"I'm not ready to not see him this fall. It's gonna be sooooooo weird. Like a new child going to a new school type weird." A fan wrote.

"Sad to watch him go but love to see him enjoying life," a fan commented.

Nick Saban gets sympathy for retirement from college football coaches

Several reasons were posited for Nick Saban's retirement from college football. The changing nature of the sport, with the recent changes to allow student-athletes to transfer an unlimited number of times and the NIL landscape, played a big part by his own admission.

During a "Big Noon Conversations" sitdown with analyst Joel Klatt, Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders revealed his sympathy for Saban retiring due to the changes in college football:

"I just hate it for him, because I felt as though he had so much more left, but I understand when it's not in you to do it that way, and you want to do it this way. Shoot, it was like, 'Man, we lost the OG. We lost the OG.' He means so much to me personally. ... I hate that we lost him for college football's sake, and why? It shouldn't be that way."

In another conversation with Joel Klatt on his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast," Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day also sympathized with Saban's reasons for retirement:

“Well I felt that pain because I’ve gone through some of those similar things and Coach Saban’s past, and history and what he’s done is just unbelievable.

"So to hear somebody that’s been through all these different things in college football and these changes in college football kind of recognize that as such a big challenge right now, it gives you some pause. It makes you really think.”

Nick Saban seems to be enjoying his retirement despite the circumstances under which he left college football.