TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- All those people a decade ago who had Nick Saban coaching in his 10th A-Day spring game this Saturday at Alabama, please stand up.

If we were all taking truth serum, there would be a lot more people sitting than standing. Probably enough to fill Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Saban flashed a wry smile when told somebody could have made a fortune in Vegas back in 2007 betting that he would have stayed at Alabama (or anywhere, for that matter) for 10 years. The odds were heavily against it for a nomad who had never stayed anywhere longer than five years in his coaching career.

"Yeah, maybe so, but I think you get to a station in your life, whether it's family or relationships, a combination of all the above, that you just feel like you're entrenched," Saban told ESPN.com in a wide-ranging interview Monday. "You can't even visualize being somewhere else, and that's where I am right now."

He's also back on top of the coaching world after his fourth national championship in seven years. To truly appreciate what a monster Saban has created in Tuscaloosa, consider that fans and media alike were suggesting that Saban's best days were behind him and that his once-mighty program was starting to see cracks in the foundation after a loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff after the 2014-15 season and then a home loss in September to Ole Miss.

Never mind that Alabama won the SEC championship in 2014, that Ohio State went on to win the national title that season and that Ole Miss won 10 games in 2015 and had a 5-0 advantage in the turnover department when the Rebels outlasted the Crimson Tide 43-37.

Two years had passed without Saban bringing home college football's top prize. And as Ryan Fowler, host of "The Game" sports talk show in Tuscaloosa, said, "We had a funeral around here after the Ohio State game."

The real funeral in Tuscaloosa will come when Saban decides to walk away. He's won either a national championship or SEC championship five of the past seven seasons and is 39-5 against SEC competition over the past five seasons.

Saban, who will turn 65 in October, is insistent that he hasn't pondered retirement, at least not on his own. But he does concede that for the first time since he can remember, his age is starting to be used against him on the recruiting trail.

Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are looking to make another run at a national title. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

"I'm not looking to get out. I'm really not, even though I know that's going to start being talked about more now," said Saban, who's in tip-top shape physically and has more energy than most men half his age. "What I have noticed is that it's the first time people are starting to say to recruits, 'He won't be there the whole time you're there,' because of my age.

"Does that really impact your ability to stay good? I don't know. But if it did, it would make you say, 'Well, what's up with this?' My philosophy is that I'm going to be here for as long as I feel like I can be effective, impact the players, help them be more successful in life and continue to have a successful program."

And that's where, for some anyway, Saban's message is misconstrued. He doesn't define a successful program solely by counting his national championship rings.

"When I talk about a successful program, define that," Saban said. "It's not just winning the national championship every year because nobody can do that. It may be the expectation around here, and I understand it and I want to do it, but it's unrealistic to think that you're going to do it every year. There are too many other good teams, too many other good players, too many other good coaches and too many other good programs."

Too many variables involved as well -- the ball bouncing your way being one of them -- and Saban isn't too proud to say that the ball has bounced just right for the Crimson Tide in a few of the years they did win national titles.

"It gets harder every year," he said.

What matters most for Saban is he still loves coaching, loves going to practice, loves interacting with the players and loves the grind of developing teams and players. When he loses that zeal, he'll know it's time to get out.

He's also realistic enough to know that sometimes there's not much warning.

Last week, Steve Spurrier, Tony Dungy, Frank Beamer and Bill Polian were all on Alabama's campus as part of the Crimson Tide's spring coaching clinic. All four are now retired from the game, and their exits came in varying forms.

"Those guys were all extremely, extremely successful guys, and sometimes by choice and sometimes when things started to unravel a little bit, they all got out," Saban said. "One of the things they talked about is the same thing I've said repeatedly. As long as I can be effective at doing what we're doing and enjoy doing it, why would I ever change?

"Now, when is the time coming that isn't the case? You never know that."

Nick Saban is back on top of the college football world and has no plans to leave any time soon. Norm Hall/Getty Images

Those closest to Saban say he probably would have bolted for the Texas head-coaching job after the 2013 season had he been five years younger. But Alabama is home now, and it runs much deeper than just football.

"To be honest with you, there was always a next step before I came here," Saban said. "It wasn't just to be a college head coach because I'd spent time in the NFL as a coordinator. So when I went back to college to be a head coach, within a year or two, I started getting head-coaching offers in the NFL. I really wanted to stay in college. But in the back of my mind, I always thought that I'd go back to the NFL and try to be a head coach. So, again, there was always a next step, but it had to be the right thing.

"I loved it at LSU. I wasn't sure about Miami, but I was sure about [then-Dolphins owner] Wayne Huizenga, so I took my shot at the NFL. But then you learn about yourself. I enjoyed the NFL. I respected the players. It was a great opportunity to learn a lot of things, but the challenges were a little different, and it didn't seem that you could control your own destiny, especially in terms of how you could bring players to the team.

"So, when I got back to college, I wasn't coaching Alabama so I could be the head coach at some NFL team. I'd already done that. It was more, 'Do a good job at this job,' and I think that's the first time I really felt that way. It fits me. It fits my family, and as I've said, our life is here now."

Other than LSU's Les Miles, no sitting football coach in the SEC has been at his school longer than Saban. There's another one not a lot of people thought they'd ever hear: Saban hanging around long enough to be one of the deans of the league.

For senior tight end O.J. Howard, who grew up in Prattville, Alabama, it's difficult for him to imagine Crimson Tide football without Saban. Howard's also been around long enough to know that Saban's idea of the future is the next practice, recruiting trip or game.

"It's his home now," Howard said. "Why leave somewhere you've had so much success and feels like home to you? It makes no sense for him to leave."

And for anybody who thinks Saban's jewelry box might already be full enough for him, Howard says think again.

"That's the great thing about coach. He's always on to the next one," Howard said. "What can we do better the next year? And that's why he just keeps rolling along."

The operative word, at least in these parts, is "roll."