Alabama Football G10 vs MSU 2014

Alabama head coach Nick Saban jogs off with a major win after the 25-20 Alabama win over no. 1 Mississippi State, Saturday, November 15, 2014, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com

The coach walks away, even at the height of his career, because the pressure is too much, the burdens too heavy, the family's pleadings too haunting. Nebraska's Tom Osborne said goodbye in 1997, immediately after he'd won his third national title in four years. He was 60.

Two decades before, Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson announced he'd had enough after leading the Sooners to three nationals between 1950 and '56. He was 47.

Yes, sustained excellence in college football exacts an immense toll on the mind and body of the head coach. For a coach to win three out of four national titles--which Nick Saban has already accomplished in Tuscaloosa--he must be a special recruiter, have a staff that excels in teaching Xs and Os, and he must be lucky.

Most of all, for a college football coach to build a dynasty, he must be a livewire of energy, possessing both the physical and intellectual stamina to continually push through those 120-hour work weeks. Everyday, he must have the resolve of Sisyphus. Everyday, the boulder awaits.

This brings us to Saban, 63. There he was on a cool Saturday evening in Bryant-Denny Stadium, smiling wickedly, as he jogged to midfield to shake the hand of his near-despondent counterpart, Dan Mullen. Alabama had just dismissed top-ranked Mississippi State 25-20 in what was inarguably the biggest game in the history of Bulldog football. As Saban, a liquid glimmer of intensity in his brown eyes, ran closer to the opposing coach, he couldn't suppress that megawatt grin. It was borderline boyish.

It was joy.

In fact, if you looked closely as he neared the center of the field, you might have noticed something remarkable: It seemed like he hadn't aged a day since the title run began five years ago. No job in college football is freighted with more demands then being the head coach at Alabama, and yet Saban appears as bright-eyed and light of foot as ever.

It's as if he just doesn't have time to age.

The stories inside the Mal Moore Athletic Facility regaling Saban's bottomless tank of energy are legion. There are assistant coaches who swear they've never seen Saban yawn. Sure, that's apocryphal, but even the notion illustrates a key point of Saban's success: the frenetic pace of the entire program at Alabama--from offseason workouts to scouting to nutrition to the zeal shown by maintenance workers--is set by the head coach, who, for the record, makes a point to memorize everyone's name who is associated with Crimson Tide football.

I was a guest on Saban's radio show, "Hey Coach," on Nov. 6. I asked him what aspect of his daily routine, after all these years clenched in the grind, gives him pleasure. After looking at me like I was treading in shark-infested waters (he later told me that my non-football questions made him feel like we were in a "therapy session"), he softened and spoke with great eloquence about helping young men develop and simply being with them out on the practice field.

It's not a stretch to say Saban finds his greatest peace in his professional life when he's doing a coach's most basic job: teaching.

After Saban shook Mullen's hand and talked to a few reporters near midfield, the coach made his way to home locker room. The 63-year-old man still looked genuinely happy.

In time, Saban will, too, walk away. But for now, chasing the dynasty, something that has worn on so many champions before him, seems to still bring him joy.

This is the biggest story of the autumn in Tuscaloosa--and, perhaps soon, in all of college football.