If there’s anybody who can turn this hockey team around, it’s probably this retired football coach.
The Nashville Predators are having a rough season, currently sitting at 13-15-4 and last in the Central Division standings. In fact, the Preds haven’t made it past the first round of the playoffs since 2018, and haven’t been anywhere close to Stanley Cup contenders since their magical run in 2017. (Sitting in Bridgestone Arena for that Game 6 loss to the Penguins is still one of my most heartbreaking moments as a sports fan).
The Preds have also experienced a lot of turnover since the Stanley Cup run, both on and off the ice. Obviously there was the retirement of legendary goalie Pekka Rinne, as well as the loss of several star players like Mike Fisher (husband, of course, to Carrie Underwood), Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene, and Viktor Arvidsson through either retirements or trades since the Stanley Cup run. Longtime general manager David Poile retired from the Preds back in 2023, and owners brought in former head coach Barry Trotz to succeed him at GM.
In 2022, the Preds announced that former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam (whose brother Jimmy Haslam owns the Cleveland Browns) had bought a stake in the team and would eventually become the majority owner.
But now, after acquiring majority ownership of the team earlier this year, Haslam has brought in a new partner who knows a thing or two about winning championships.
Legendary former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban was announced today as a minority owner of the Preds, alongside his business partner Joe Agresti. Together, Saban and Agresti are partners in several business ventures, including Dream Sports Ventures LLC, which completed the purchase of the minority stake in the Predators.
Speaking on having Saban join the ownership group, Haslam praised the retired coach for his commitment to winning:
“I am really looking forward to having Coach Nick Saban and Joe Agresti as a part of our ownership group. Coach is one of the all-time greats in college football history and one of the winningest coaches in all of sports. We are excited to have him join us in our pursuit of championships on the ice in Nashville.”
And Saban seems excited to take on the challenge of building a championship contender in yet another sport:
