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Every year, Alabama head coach Nick Saban is asked by NFL teams if he is interested in returning to the pros, and the ritual won’t likely end anytime soon.

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Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that the answer will always be no.

Such is the case of NFL teams’ annual wooing of Alabama head coach Nick Saban. They will continue to be rejected, and their persistence will not pay off.

It begs the question: as long as Saban is coaching, will there be a time when the NFL stops calling?

Per an NFL source, all six teams that had a head coaching position open this offseason contacted the five-time national champion coach, and they were all told the same thing: Nope. No. Not again.

Saban’s been down that route, and things didn’t go as swimmingly as he had planned. Now, he’s the king at the top of the college football mountain, and everyone is slowly climbing up and trying to catch him.

He doesn’t need the NFL. His legacy in the coaching category is already complete. If he was to walk away tomorrow, Nick Saban would still be considered the greatest coach in college football history.

Maybe that’s the lure: instant credibility. Instant interest in a fledgling team. Instant ticket sales. The only thing not guaranteed to be instantaneous is success.

So how long does this remain “a thing” in the offseason? Saban is now 65 years old, which would seem to put him on the edge of retirement, but the fire still burns deep in his stomach and he’s in better health than a lot of men 20 years his junior.

Even if he does step down from the throne in Tuscaloosa, the phone will still ring and he will continue to turn them down.

Maybe we just face it and accept that this won’t end up until Saban is six feet under. Of course, the Cleveland Browns might still be desperate enough to take a chance even then.

MORE: ‘I Already Ate’: How Nick Saban Won Over Jonathan Allen