Another Alabama season has come to an end.

Before we get to spring football can start and the final recruits sign, it appears there’s another season on the year-long football calendar: The Nick Saban Retirement Watch.

The 72-year-old coach, fresh off an overtime 27-20, CFP semifinal loss to Michigan in the Rose Bowl, made his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” Thursday and was asked about the yearly occurrence.

“Because, I’m getting old, I guess,” Saban quipped.

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It’s no secret the Alabama coach has taken issue with the evolving landscape of college football, whether it is NIL or the transfer portal. Still, Saban led his team to another SEC Championship, a CFP appearance and snapped two-time defending national champion Georgia’s 29-game win streak.

“Look, I ask everybody who asks me that question, ‘Are you going to be here for four years?” he said. “Some players ask me when I’m going to retire. I look at them and say, ‘Can you guarantee me that you’re going to be here for four years? They look at me like, ‘Hell, no.’ …

“I just think it’s the way of the world now.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.