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Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban is reportedly assisting the Nashville Predators in their search for a new general manager. He has been involved in interviews, helping majority owner Bill Haslam evaluate candidates.
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Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban involved in Predatorsā GM interviews, per report
As the Nashville Predators continue their search for a new general manager, they may be getting some help from former Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
According to a report from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Saban has been assisting majority owner Bill Haslam during recent in-person interviews.
"I believe that in this round of in person (interviews), Nick Sabanās played a pretty big role," Friedman said on an April 17 episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. "I think heās asking questions, I think heās sizing up the candidates."
Saban became minority owner of the Predators in December, purchasing stake in the team alongside business partner Joe Agresti through Dream Sports Ventures LLC. After retiring as coach of Alabama in 2024, Saban became part of the ESPN "College GameDay" crew before showing interest in sports ownership. He was also a part of Haslam's bid to bring a WNBA expansion franchise to Nashville in 2025.
When Predators current GM Barry Trotz announced his retirement in Feb. 2, Haslam initially hired CAA to help guide the search. That didn't last long ā CAA withdrew from the search a week later, citing potential conflict of interest.
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From there, the Predators chose to keep their search internal, which apparently involves Saban.
"The guyās been very successful," Friedman added. "Itās not all apples to apples, Alabama football and the . But he has some idea of what makes a person a success. And he wants to see it."
Nick Saban is assisting majority owner Bill Haslam in evaluating candidates for the Predators' general manager position.
Saban is reportedly asking questions and assessing candidates during the in-person interviews for the general manager role.
The majority owner of the Nashville Predators is Bill Haslam.
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Friedman added that included in the list of in-person interviews are current Predators assistant GM Jeff Kealty, Carolina Hurricanes assistant GM Darren Yorke, Florida Panthers assistant GM Brett Peterson, and Edmonton Oilers assistant GM Bill Scott. The team is also expected to interview former New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald and New York Rangers assistant GM Ryan Martin.
Haslam has said he wants to make the hire in time for the NHL draft in June, but ideally by sometime in May.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nick Saban involved in Nashville Predatorsā GM interviews