New details emerge from Nick Saban’s last meeting with Alabama football.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne sat quietly in the back of the room, ready for one of two outcomes.

He would either slip away unnoticed or step forward to take charge of the meeting with the Alabama football team. It all depended on what Nick Saban was about to announce on January 10, 2024.

“I told Coach Saban, ‘If you start talking about offseason workouts, academics, and priorities, I’ll just quietly leave,’” Byrne recalled in the latest episode of ‘The Tides that Bind’ documentary on FOX Nation. “No one even knew I was there. But I also told him, ‘If this is the retirement speech, that’s when the plan goes into motion.’”

As the world now knows, Saban did retire, triggering a whirlwind 49 hours that ended with Alabama hiring Kalen as the new head coach. Byrne, along with other program staff, shared their experiences and new insights about Saban’s final team meeting in the documentary released Wednesday.

At first, January 10 seemed like any other day. “It felt like a normal day,” said Jeff Springer, Alabama’s associate AD of equipment operations.

Then, everything changed at 4 p.m.

“When Coach Saban first started talking, it felt like any other meeting where we were preparing to compete for another championship,” said HaHa Clinton-Dix, director of player development. “But towards the end, his tone shifted—he started stumbling over his words, getting emotional. You could feel the entire energy in the room change.”

Then came the announcement: Saban was retiring.

After 17 seasons, six national championships at Alabama, and seven overall, Saban was stepping away from coaching.

“The players were stunned,” said Denzel Devall, another director of player development. “The staff was in shock. Everyone felt like it wasn’t real. And then, as he walked off the stage, reality sank in ‘Damn, the GOAT is gone.’”

Once Saban exited, Byrne stepped forward to address the team.

“What do you think of Coach Saban?” he asked.

The room erupted in applause. Then Saban left.

Byrne turned back to the team’s leaders.

“Are you going to hold this thing together? Are you going to keep the locker room intact?”

He also urged the players to wait 72 hours before making any decisions. The transfer portal had immediately opened for 30 days following Saban’s retirement, and outside programs were already circling.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it panic and understandably so,” said Jeff Allen, Alabama’s senior associate AD for health and performance. “Not just for the players, but for many of us in the program.”

Just 49 hours later, Byrne finalized the hiring of Kalen DeBoer, bringing him from Seattle to Tuscaloosa to usher in a new chapter of Alabama football.