Nick Saban learns to send his first-ever email after stepping away from Alabama after 17 seasons as his wife lays down the 'Ten Commandments of Retirement' - including slowing down when eating!

Nick Saban won seven national championships and nearly 300 football games during a coaching career that spanned a half century.

What he didn't (or couldn't) do was send his own emails and text messages. Even manageable tasks, like picking up a prescription from the pharmacy, eluded the long-time Alabama and LSU coach, who simply didn't have the time or patience to do it himself.

'The biggest change for me as a person is that I lived my whole life for the last 50 years being in a hurry,' Saban told ESPN about the early days of his retirement since stepping down as Crimson Tide coach earlier this year. 'It was, 'Hurry up to go here. Hurry up to go there. Don't be late for this meeting. You've got another meeting in an hour. What are you going to say to the staff? What are you going to say to the team?''

'I mean, it was just deadline after deadline after deadline. Even when I was driving to the lake to go on vacation, I'd be in a hurry, and for what? But that's just how you were built.'

To offer some guidelines about his new lifestyle, his wife Terry wrote him a letter containing the 'Ten Commandments of Retirement.'

Former Alabama golfer Justin Thomas (left) greets hoops coach Nate Oats alongside Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, prior to a basketball game against Tennessee on March 2 

And the early returns have been encouraging. Whereas he once had staffers who handled his text messages and emails for the technophobic coach, Saban is now capable of doing all of those things.

'He's actually texting and reading his own emails and sent his first-ever email,' Terry, Saban's wife of 52 years, told ESPN. 'He even took his first trip to the pharmacy to pick up his first prescription. He's actually quite proud of himself.'

Best of all, Saban has finally learned to take his time while eating, which is a thoughtful practice for any dining companion. 

'So at our first dinner at home, he brought his plate to me with half a pickle on it and said, ''To be polite!'' Terry said. 

(Right) Terry Saban, wife of Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban (left), in 2016 

Saban is not completely retired. He plans to join ESPN this football season as a College GameDay analyst – a move host Rece Davis sees as a no-brainer.

'I think it's really going to really give an added dimension to our show and certainly a different perspective from someone who's accomplished what he has as a coach in recent years,' Davis said last month.

'The one thing I think that people have seen glimpses of, but I think they're going to see a lot more of in addition to remarkable X and O insight, they're going to see this guy has a really good sense of humor,' Davis said. 'Now it's a dry wit and a low-key wit and it's a chop-busting wit, and I think that it's going to play perfectly on that set.'

As for his proximity to the Crimson Tide, Saban will maintain an office at Bryant-Denny Stadium, but has vowed not to interfere with Kalen DeBoer's team.

'I want to bring the least amount of attention to me being around here as possible,' Saban told ESPN. 'So I want to be supportive. I want to be helpful, but I don't want to be looking over anybody's shoulder.'