Up until a few minutes before newly retired Alabama football coach Nick Saban walked into a 4 p.m. team meeting and told players of his decision, he was wavering on whether to stay on another season. How his retirement would affect those players and the rest of the UA staff, Saban told ESPN, is what made it so difficult.

"That was the hard part. That was the part I kept vacillating on back and forth. I was on the phone, we had a meeting at 4 p.m, it was 3:55, I was sitting in my chair, looking at the clock, saying you've got five minutes to decide which speech you're going to give," Saban said. "I was actually talking to Miss Terry right up until that time. It was a difficult decision because it impacts and influences the lives of so many people."

In those five minutes, the course of college football permanently changed. After a record seven national championships, six of them at Alabama, Saban transitioned from deciding to decided in those five minutes, then entered the team meeting room and broke the news that many in the building hadn't even heard yet.

"It was a hard decision. I love coaching, I love the relationships with players. The thing that made it more difficult for me is, I felt it might be the right time for me, but how it impacted the players, the coaches, all the people who worked there in the building and contributed to the success of the team, how it would affect them," Saban said.

Saban added that he intends to stay on at Alabama in some capacity yet to be determined. UA Director of Athletics Greg Byrne has begun the search for Saban's replacement, and one rumored candidate, Oregon's Dan Lanning, announced via UO social media that he intends to stay with the Ducks.

Reach Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

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This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama's Nick Saban wavered on retirement minutes before telling team