Nick Saban Breaks His Podcast Rule For Travis Kelce And Jason Kelce, Then Issues Blunt Warning

Nick Saban said yes to Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce, then warned every other host to stay away.© Image via: X/@danfetes

Nick Saban does not do podcasts. He said so himself, loudly, on a podcast. On November 6, 2026, the former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach sat down with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jason Kelce, the retired Philadelphia Eagles center, for an episode of New Heights. His daughter set it up. His respect for the brothers sealed it. What came out was part thank-you, part warning and part college football sermon. Jason answered with a confession about his Cincinnati Bearcats days. Saban meant all of it.

Why Nick Saban Made One Exception For Travis Kelce And Jason Kelce

Kristen Saban loves the Kelce brothers. Her father lost that argument.

He did not pretend otherwise. "I don't do podcasts. I mean, this may be one I've done in my life. I refuse to do it, but my daughter loves you guys, and she convinced me that I should do this. And I have tremendous respect for you guys, so I wanted to do it for you guys. But I just want to leave a message out there for everybody else. I'm not doing this S*** anymore,"

Classic Saban. One hand extended, the other raised like a stop sign.

Seven national titles buy a man the right to choose his rooms. He told Pat McAfee that great competitors earn his time, and he filed both Kelce brothers under that heading.

Nick Saban says retirement finally lets him enjoy Halloween, giving kids extra candy if they dance for it “I'm happy to be able to do things that I was never able to do. Simple things… Kids come up, you get one piece of candy. If you dance to the music, you get two.” “I never got to do that.”

— katsu (@katsuxbt) November 6, 2026

Jason heard the clip and went straight to X. "Every time I hear coach talk I get fired up!! Man I would have loved playing for him!" A center who snapped footballs for the Philadelphia Eagles for years rarely gushes like that.

What Nick Saban Said About The Playoff And The Transfer Portal

Saban did not come to chat about weekend plans.

He pointed to the Protect College Sports Act as a way to calm the transfer portal. The bill would limit undergraduate athletes to one transfer, which gives coaches a fighting chance at keeping a roster together for more than a year.

The 24-team College Football Playoff, planned for 2027, drew sharper words. Saban worries about what the SEC Championship Game becomes once a bigger bracket swallows it. "There's a lot of pride in winning the conference championship, and we're going to give that up to have an extra game, where the 24th team is going to play the ninth-best team."

Nobody in the sport has stood in that arena longer. Nine SEC titles and 206 wins in 17 Alabama seasons give his words real weight.

Now he works for ESPN, mostly on College GameDay, where opinions are the job. Fans might hear more of them there.