PTI - Could Nick Saban Return to Coaching?

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Nick Saban, the MLB All-Star and JuJu Watkins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbaum baseball's all-star game is tonight, Tony. Have you ever made any all-star teams? I'm Tony Kornheiser.

Street and Smith's 10 sexiest sports writers, 1978. I got copy of it behind me on the bookcase. Wow. Yeah. You beat out Bob Ryan? Is that the case, huh? I think I beat out Ryan. Pretty sure I'd beat out Lupica.

Pretty sure. I'm not getting into that one. You can look it up. I'm not going anywhere to hear that. boys and girls. In today's episode, Nick Saban's football future. Criticism of Jalen Hertz and Mark DeRose joins us to talk baseball for five good minutes. But we begin today with Big Dumper Cal Raleigh, winning the home run derby last night, becoming the first catcher to ever do so. Raleigh is now the fourth player to win the home run derby while leading the majors in home runs

to that point, joining Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGuire, who did it in the 90s, and Aaron Judge, who did it in 2017. Wilbon, how high in the star rankings can you see Rawley ascending? Well, Tony, if you're going to ascend high in star rankings, it means to me more than one season. Look, he's the odds on favor to be the MVP. And I know Aaron Judge is like, let's not count out Aaron Judge with the season he's having. But it means you got, even as a catcher, and we're paying special attention because, my goodness, this guy's having a hell of a year for anybody. and double for a catcher.

But Mike Piazza's a guy who had five, six or more great seasons. I'm not even about to start mentioning the likes of Johnny Bench. And if we go back in time, Berra and Campanella, I'm just not prepared to do that. But in today's star-making turn, where the marketing people will make a star out of anybody's who's had three great weeks, the dumper is already a star by today's standards. But if he's going to be the MVP and then can sustain this, you know, and like I don't care, as I said two days ago, I don't care about, you know, a home run derby.

I, you know, Tony, I just want all the All-Star games to get off the stage so that we can resume with the parts of the season that matter. And now we are in the second half of the season in both leagues. There's some intriguing races going on. You've got Raleigh having this terrific season. But Star to me means more than one season. To me, old-fashioned as I am. Yeah. Yeah.

So I would just start by saying what a warm moment it must have been last night when Cal Raleigh is up there swinging and his dad is throwing the pitches and his younger brother is catching behind him. I remember when Bryce Harper's dad was throwing the pitches to Bryce Harper when he was on the Nationals and he won the home run derby. And what a fortunate thing for Raleigh yesterday that the longest home run he hit is. the first contest was one, and got him into the second contest, was one inch longer than the Oakland player, right? Let me get Oakland's player's name, Brent Rooker, one inch longer. Okay, how high can he go?

Catcher is a problem. It's not a glamour position, though two guys you mentioned Johnny Bench and Mike Piazza were fairly glamorous. He's the best defensive catcher in all of baseball. And I think, I think that that matters. He's got a great nickname. Big Dumpur is a great nickname. He's a switch hitter. Legendary players have been switch hitters. And Mike, by August 1st, it's very possible he will have, certainly not August 1st,

September 1st, he'll have more home runs than any catcher ever had. What is the negative here? One of the negatives is he plays in Seattle, which is off the grid, though that never heard Ken Griffey Jr. The big negative to me is that he's in the era of Otanian Judge, who are tremendously glamorous players in large cities who look like all timers. So what would happen with Rale even if he has a great year is somebody's going to say, do it again. Do it again. Prove it's not a fluke because these other guys have done it again. And these other guys have been in the World

Series and that matters. That's just that you've got to do it more than once. And we'll see if he's capable. That's worth watching. I don't care about home run derby. Dumpur, can he can he sustain this? That's what's worth watching to me. Let's move to speculation about, brace yourselves, Nick Sabin returning to coaching. ESPN analyst and former Alabama quarterback, Greg McElroy, said on his radio show yesterday that someone very much in the know was pretty adamant

that Sabin will return to coaching one day. Ole Miss coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator, Elaine Kiffin later said, quote, I don't think he's done. close quote. Tone, could you see Nick Sabin returning to coaching? Yeah, so as a former sports writer, I would love to know who Greg McElroy's source is. Could it be Sabin himself since Sabin coached him at Alabama? Maybe it's somebody who coached with Sabin. Could it be Sarkisian?

Could it be Bill Belichick? You know, can I see Sabin returning coaching? Of course I can. Bill Belichick is coaching again. Pete Carroll is coaching again. and you're going to say, hold it, hold it, hold it. Nobody wants to coach with the NIL and the transfer portal, and Saban got out because he couldn't control his team the way he used to be able to control his team. Well, things involved, Mike. I mean, again, look who's coaching. Look what Belichick did. He hired a GM so that he could be shielded from all the transactional stuff. I mean, it seems to me this is going to settle down. It seems to me it's going to be streamlined, the transnational, from Fordle and the NIL and all that money. And it seems to me possible at Sabin and say,

yeah, I've been out two years. I'll take another shot at this. And I would list a bunch of names, Mike and another sport. Mike Cheshefsky, Jim Beheim, Roy Williams, Tony Bennett, Jay Wright. Is it possible that maybe a couple of them look at it now and say, maybe I was a little too hasty? Because I think it'll settle down and you can go back to coaching. It's not settled down at all. It's going to be wilder because people are going to offer money outside of whatever the salary cap is. You think the Texas A&M, just to pick a place,

you think their oil rich alums are going to say, yeah, we're going to pay attention to the cap? No, they're not. And Sabin's not coming back. And I'm going to go Bill Cower on you because there are some people who just enjoy their lives. And Sabin seems to be one of them. He plays the best golf courses in the world

every time he wakes up wants to do it. I'd tell you something Sabin would be great. They'd be great at a lot of stuff. How about the czar of college football? Because college football is going to need one. All of college sports needs. No, he's not coming back because Sabin very quickly

identified what the problem was going to be. The issue is going to be in college sports. And he got out the next day. He was smarter and quicker than everybody and he ain't coming back. I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to go the other way. And I'm just going to make it very, very

simple here. And he's done great work. He's brilliant than that verbal commercial he is. But he's been out two years, and this is the life he's always had. And maybe he misses it. Maybe he misses it. Let's move to the NFL, where Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Siriani told NBC Sports in Philadelphia that he totally rejects the notion that last year's Super Bowl winning Eagles carried quarterback Jalen Hertz, and that Hertz was just along for the ride. A notion that apparently has found traction in Philadelphia. Siriani said, quote, I think that's bull bleep. We're talking about the ultimate team game there is,

and he does whatever he needs to do to win every game, unquote. Wilbon, was this something that ever entered your mind? No, because it's too stupid to enter my mind. And this is what happens when a 17-game season has to be discussed on every network, including this one, for 52 weeks. That means there's 30-plus weeks when it shouldn't be discussed, when there ought to be a moratorium when people ought to say,

let's discuss something else like golf and tennis and track and field. But no, we're going to just discuss this at nauseam and propose questions and debates that are stupid and not worth considering. And then we're going to do it tomorrow morning

and the next morning and the next morning. And that's all it is, is fodder for stupid talk. So I think that, you know, know, in this particular case, it may have something to do with these rankings of quarterbacks that come out. And you see that Hertz is ranked like 9th or 10th or 11th or something like that. I'm one of those people who believe that there are better quarterbacks than Jalen Hertz. But I would be inclined to put Jalen Hertz as you know as the MVP ahead of a lot of

those guys. Joe Burrow, I think, is a better quarterback. Lamar Jackson, I think, is a better quarterback. Their results are nowhere near Jalen Hertz's results. Jailer's results are right front of you. I mean, is there linkage to the fact that Saquan Barclay came to the Eagles and the Eagles won a Super Bowl? Sure, that's possibly true. But Jalen Hurts is out there on every play to make sure Sequan Barclay gets a ball where he needs the ball and make sure that that that offense is maximized. I'll give you a quarterback, Mike, a comparable quarterback who did not have overwhelming statistics, who had wonderful receivers that had great running backs and won Super Bowls. Bart Starr. And I don't think the Packers could have won without Bart.

star. You know, I think that team was Bart Stars in the way that the Eagles team is Jalen Hertz's. And like you, I don't know where this comes from. I just don't. I don't. It comes from a place of stupid. Because there's history is littered

with guys who did what they were supposed to do your job as Bill, as the Parcells or Belichick. I forget which Bill said it. Do your job. Belichick. Belichick. Bob Greasy would never be mentioned with all the all-time great

What did he do? He did what he was supposed to do and did his job and quarterbacked a great team. And there are people like that. You mentioned bars are. Of course those guys are. And Jalen Hertz is every bit of that. And so when I see these rankings, Tony, the rankings have to come out so you can have these stupid discussions. I will tell you, Mike.

52 weeks a year. This feels like a creation. And I would give all the credit in the world to Nick Siriani if he created it just to slam it. Let's take a break coming up. Tariq Scoobel and Paul Skeen's are your All-Star starters. What can baseball do to restore the statue of the starting pitcher? We're going to ask Mark DeRosa. We'll also ask him about Pete Alonzo's suggestion to make one-on-one fights legal in baseball. We should ask him about another Pete. MD Pete, Pete Crowe, Armstrong. That's what we should ask. That's the Pete we should be talking about. In a story we broke in our first segment, baseball's all-star game is tonight, which makes it a perfect time.

to bring in the co-host of MLB Network's MLB Central, Mark DeRosa. Wilbon is a devotee of Marks, which you'll find out later. Let's start with this. Addicted, yes. Some Phillies are having a problem with the MIS making the All-Star team as a replacement. Mark, how do you feel about that? You know, I never looked at it, guys, like an entertainment product when I played. But now being on this side of it, I do see it as an entertainment product.

This guy has lit it up. I know it's only five starts. I also know that a lot of guys have declined going. And usually the rule is if you're going to be a replacement, you have to be available to pitch in the game. I can understand Christopher Sanchez having an art. He should have been an all-star from jump. But he just pitched recently.

He wasn't going to be available. Probably same with Ranger Suarez. They start going down the line. And eventually they get to a guy who's, throwing a buck o'1 who has a chance to come in, maybe in the fifth, sixth or seventh inning and light it up. I can understand the guys having a problem with it, but as an entertainment product, I can't wait to see him tonight. God. I have to hate him as my birthright as a Cub fan, Mark, to hate the Miz, even though I'm fascinated by him, of course. Let's say with starting

pitching, because we got this great matchup for as long as it lasts between scubel and skiing. means if you were the Tsar of baseball, what would you do to sort of make sure starting pitching and starting pitching matchups were a bigger part of the game? Yeah, you know what? This is a bigger question. This is a full show because this is leaking down all the way into the youth. I just think there's got to be something in place. I don't know if it's a rule.

The way I watch the game is I pick out who the best starting pitching matchup is that night. and that's where I'm fixated at. I don't get overrun with guys who are going to go four or five innings, and then they're just going to start rolling the bullpen in there. So for me, it's what the industry is valuing right now. Missing Bats is kind of leaking down into the minor leagues, how they're being developed, and it's leaking into college and all the way into youth baseball.

It's what these kids are chasing. I'm immersed. I have a 15-year-old son. They're chasing lighting up the, radar gun. They're chasing exit below, even if it's not a hit. So I just think organizations have to start valuing efficiency, certainly stuff, but the ability to pitch and be willing to let these guys go through the lineup, not only twice, but some of them, maybe a third time and not be so fixated on a pitch count. There's something else that people might get fixated on. I'm not sure how I feel

about it yet. We want to find out how you feel about players being able to challenge balls and strikes tonight. Are you, where are you on technology improving the game? I love it. I'm going to be honest with you. I just was the bench coach for Chipper Jones in the futures game, and we got to use it, and I watched it work to our advantage twice. So yeah, I'm good with it. I think you're going to see this next year. I think this is going to be brought into the game next year. I think they're to figure out how many challenges to give people. You don't want everyone saving it to the ninth inning and then it slows down the game. The pitch clock has made the, whether you agree with it or not, it has made it a better product,

in my opinion, getting the ball moving a little bit more. So, yeah, I think you're going to see it tonight. Guys are going to be scared to use it. Terrick Scouble actually said he's not going to use it. He'll leave it to his catcher if he wants to use it. Now, we got another question for you. This is a wild question. unaware of this. Peter Alonso said today that he would like to see one-on-one fights get legalized

in baseball the way they are in hockey. This is so off the board for me. Where do you come down on Alonzo's proposal? You know what's crazy? I kind of understand where he's coming from because the whole bench clearer and nobody throws a punch and then here comes the bullpen and we got a 15 minute delay and it's a lot of pushing and shoving. Listen, I've been a part of a couple brawls in my life. You make a quick decision. You're either in the mix at the bottom of the pile, willing to get after it, or you're playing peacekeeper. So, I mean, I kind of get, I kind of get where he's coming from. Usually it's a one-on-one matchup. If those guys want to go at it, I kind of, I kind of understand where Pete's coming from. Yeah, Alonzo's coming from the

of being about six three. The biggest strongest guy on the field. Yeah. Yeah, that's where he's coming from. Enforcing. You're going to pick your spots. You're going to pick your spots. Who you're going to drill and who you're not going to drill.

Absolutely. Mark, thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks a lot, Mark. Appreciate it, man. A big honor. Thank you, guys. Let's take one break. Still to come, a dunk to remember for, you know, at least a few days.

If that. And what could it change in ownership means? for the Tampa Bay Rays. No, you can't have, it can't be like the NHL. No, no, no, I don't want that. No, no, uh. Okay, so you love DeRosa as a cub, right? You loved them, and you love the show we're on.

Happy time, people. Happy 20th birthday, Juju Watkins. The USC basketball star was averaging 23.9 points per game for the one-seed Trojans when Watkins tore her ACL in a second round NCAA tournament game against Mississippi State in March. Watkins' absence was felt a couple of rounds later when USC lost to eventual national champion Connecticut, and we all missed a chance to see Watkins and Paige Becker's on the same court. Watkins had a sensational freshman year, averaging 27.1 points second only to Caitlin Clark.

The last two number one draft choices in the WNBA are Clark and Beckers. Watkins could surely follow in their footsteps when she chooses to come out. Thank goodness that modern medicine and health care and technology have rendered the serious knee injury, just not as big a deal as it used to be, and the greatest players can come back now, including Juju Watkins. Happy anniversary, Raphael Palmero. On this day, 20 years ago, while playing for the Orioles, Palmero doubled for the 3,000th hit of his career,

joining only Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray, as players then with at least 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. Pomeros' shining moment took a dark turn within weeks when he was suspended for a positive steroids test. Pomero played only seven more games, finishing his career with the most games played by someone who never played in the World Series, 2,831. Pomeros not in the Hall of Fame clearly because of steroids and is likely most remembered for wagging his finger at a congressional inquiry into steroids in baseball.

Tony, doesn't it seem Pomerro as great as he was, played most of his career in the shadows. Like you just don't I don't have moments I go to automatically for somebody as great as Palmyro as talented as he was. No, you're right but those numbers, those numbers are amazing numbers.

Unbelievable. Happy trails to a little bit of dignity for Noah Asengay. The Bulls rookie got dunked on by Johnny Furphy of the Pacers in Summer League yesterday. Asengay tried to deny Furphy at the rim and for his effort ended up in a tough photo that was retweeted by stars like Tyrese Halliburton and Caitlin Clark.

And that image is what people will remember, even though Asengay outscored Furfie, 21 to 15, and the Bulls won the game. Furfee grew up in Australia. A Senge is from France, so this could qualify as an international incident, Wilbon. I want a Singe to go up even stronger next time not worry about the poster.

Asingay, Buccellus, Kobe White, and Josh Giddy, I'm starting to just at least wonder if the Bulls are putting together something. I like that kid we drafted in the first round. 12th, I think overall, a singe. Like what I've seen so far in Summerlee. Yeah, let it rest.

It's the off season. Let it rest for a while. Big finish. Paul George had arthroscopic knee surgery to treat an injury suffered in a recent workout. Your thoughts, I know you love them. I do. They can't catch a break in Philly or Paul.

It's training camp. It's a long season. I hope we can get out there soon when it's time. Trevor Lawrence tells, pardon my take, he really needs to turn it on this season. What are you waiting for? You agree with him? Yeah, I mean, they redid his contract.

They gave him a lot of money. And you loved them more than anybody ever in college. You did, I know that. The Panthers will host your Blackhawks to open the NHL season. I'm sure you're excited. No, we're not ready for prime time yet. No, no, no. The Washington football franchise will retire Art Months 81,

Number 81, Jersey, this season. Make sense? Yes. I mean, he was a great receiver on Super Bowl winning teams. Yes. Last one, Ray's owner, Stu Sternberg, reportedly selling the team your thoughts. Do you have many thoughts about that franchise? Tampa Bay Times reporting playoff games will be a Steinbrenner's feel. I guess that's a big deal. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time, and I'm Tony Kornhizer. And I'm Mike Wilbaud. Same time tomorrow. Knuckleheads Tony. Thysman and Riggins not retired?

What? That's amazing. How could Wiggins? How could they not retire 44? How's that possible? BTII.