Nick Saban, retired Alabama football coach and now minority owner of the Nashville Predators, made one thing clear.
He’s not getting back into coaching.
“Don’t look at me like I’m going to make some huge impact coaching around here, because that’s not going to happen,” Saban told reporters during a news conference Dec. 22 at Bridgestone Arena. “But I do have a pretty good idea of what it takes to have successful organizations.”
On Dec. 16, the team announced that Saban, now an analyst on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” had purchased a minority stake in the Predators. Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is the majority owner, taking control in July 2025 after purchasing his stake from former owner Herb Fritch.
Saban acquired his stake through Dream Sports Ventures LLC, an entity controlled by Nick Saban and Joe Agresti. The group also owns Dream Motor Group, which owns two auto dealerships in Nashville.
Citing policy agreements with the ownership group, the Predators did not disclose the percentage share Dream Sports Ventures now owns, nor whose shares it purchased.
Talks between Haslam and Saban began in 2024, when Haslam formed a bid to bring a WNBA team to Nashville. Though that fell through, discussions quickly moved to Saban joining the Predators’ ownership group.
“Nashville is a great growing city and in the right part of the country for us,” Saban said. “To be a part of a hockey team here is something special. We’d love to build it into a championship (team).”
How active will Nick Saban be as an owner?
A longtime fan of the Predators, Saban has been around the team in an unofficial capacity for some time. He has met members of the hockey operations, including general manager Barry Trotz, and even spoke to prospects at development camp during the summer.
One of 17 members of the ownership group, Saban is the only one with significant sports pedigree. In addition to Haslam, who has 57% stake in the team, the group is made up of mostly business executives, including prominent healthcare CEO Tom Cigarran.
Saban said he’s willing to use his experience in winning to help the Predators, but ultimately will do “whatever Mr. Haslam would like (me) to do.”
Another thing he ruled out? Putting on skates.
“I have skated, but I can’t say I’m a skater,” Saban said. “Not sure you’ll see me on the ice anytime soon.”
Saban wants to bring championship process to Predators
Saban won six national championships at Alabama, where he coached for 17 seasons (2007 to 2023). He also won a title at LSU in 2003.
He wants to bring a championship mindset to the Predators. That starts with establishing a winning process.
“My process has always been about helping people become successful,” he said. “I want everybody in the organization to have goals and aspirations. To help them define what they had to do to do it, then provide them leadership to help them to do it.”
Committing teams to a winning process, Saban said, should lead to success.
“If we can get everyone in this organization to play like a champion, we might have a chance to win a championship. I know Mr. Haslam wants to do that in this organization.”
What Nick Saban said about Predators’ GM Barry Trotz
Saban likely will not have direct involvement with the Predators’ hockey operations. Part of that could be because he’s only just now joining the team.
When asked about his impressions of Trotz, Saban was admittedly cautious.
“I know Barry (Trotz) is a good guy. We had a couple meetings,” he said. “I like the guy. I don’t know enough about what he does in the job that he’s done to this point to evaluate his performance in any way. I think that’s up to (Haslam).”
Saban’s role in the organization likely will be to add to, not strip away from, how things operate.
“I am here to support (Trotz) in any way that I can to help him be successful and anyone else in the organization that I can be helpful to,” he said.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.