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Alabama's Saban to undergo hip replacement surgery

Nick Saban has decided to undergo right hip replacement surgery, the Alabama coach told USA Today on Friday.

Saban revealed to reporters after last Saturday's spring game that he would have a procedure to get the hip "fixed." At that time, he hadn't decided on the replacement surgery.

The 67-year-old Saban told USA Today he feels pain while running, climbing stairs and sometimes while bending over to tie his shoes.

Saban said he noticed a problem on the first day of spring drills when he felt pain in the hip. He initially thought it was just a hip flexor.

"It didn't feel like it was some injury or something like that, but it never went away and it actually kept almost getting worse," Saban said.

Saban's biggest regret is that he won't be able to play golf in upcoming months. In fact, troubles on the golf course -- not with his shots -- were another indicator to him that the hip issue was serious.

"That's what gets me," Saban told USA Today. "But turning and swinging a golf club? It hurts more to get out of the cart than it does to swing the club."

When revealing the hip issue last Saturday, Saban said he would face a recovery period of six to eight weeks. He said the longevity of his coaching career was a crucial factor in choosing to get it repaired.

"I want to get it fixed because I don't want to coach for one more year. I want to coach for a lot more years," Saban said. "So, whenever things like this come up, I want to be aggressive and proactive to get it taken care of. We'll certainly do that and we have really good people to do it and I don't think it should be a big deal."

Saban is entering his 13th season at Alabama. He has a 146-21 record with five national titles.

--Field Level Media