Auburn fans celebrate Nick Saban’s retirement in classic Auburn fashion

If there’s any place that is the happiest about Alabama head coach Nick Saban retiring, it’s Auburn. And celebrations are quickly happening in a way that could only happen at Auburn.

After news of Saban’s retirement broke Wednesday night, it didn’t take long for those at Auburn’s campus to celebrate their biggest rival’s coach finally leaving college football. About an hour after the news, people began to roll Toomer’s Corner, the famed Auburn tradition of throwing rolls of toilet paper on the oak trees there.

It seems several Auburn students and fans were happy to celebrate, as rolls of toilet paper are constantly being rolled as the night goes on. A live feed of Toomer’s Corner can be seen here.

The happiness about Saban’s departure goes to show how deeply rooted the hate in college football rivalries can go. Saban went 12-5 against the Tigers as Alabama’s head coach and the Crimson Tide are currently on a four-game winning streak against Auburn. At Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, Saban went 5-4 with Alabama.

Alabama fans leave Coca-Cola, oatmeal cream pies near Nick Saban’s statue

While celebrations are taking place in Auburn, it is a much more somber scene about 125 miles west in Tuscaloosa. Outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium, people began to leave bottles of Coke and oatmeal cream pies near Saban’s statue.

A bottle of Coca-Cola was often on the podium when Saban would give press conferences, and oatmeal cream pies are a favorite treat of his.

‘Part of my motivation for getting up in the morning is I love to have a cup of coffee and two Debbie cookies every day,” Saban said on Eli Manning’s ‘Eli’s Places’ in 2021. ‘And when I don’t have them, I’m cranky.’