• Nick Saban hangs it up: The greatest coach in college football history announced his retirement on Wednesday night.
• Alabama is easily a top-five job: With endless resources, this is easily the biggest job to open in years.
• Saban’s replacement: Some potential coaches to replace Saban are Dan Lanning, Dabo Swinney, Lane Kiffin and Kalen DeBoer.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Nick Saban sent shockwaves throughout the college football world Wednesday night when it was reported that he would be retiring as Alabama’s head coach.
The GOAT
Put simply, he’s the greatest coach to ever roam a college sideline. His seven national championships are the most by a coach in college football history. Saban’s also one of only three coaches to win national titles at two different schools, doing so at LSU and Alabama (Urban Meyer and Pop Warner being the other two).
How good of a job is Alabama?
Alabama is, at minimum, a top-five job in the country and can be argued much higher than that.
You have to start with the Crimson Tide’s legacy. Alabama’s won 16 national championships, most among current FBS schools. The two coaches with the most national titles, Saban and Bear Bryant, won all or most of their championships with the Crimson Tide.
Alabama also has some of the best resources in the country, which has helped lead to elite talent acquisition. According to On3’s industry ranking, the Crimson Tide have had a top-two recruiting class in the nation in 13 of the last 14 years.
The only downside to the job is simple: Replacing the greatest coach in college football history. There are otherworldly expectations in Tuscaloosa, as even two losses in any given season will be considered a complete failure.
So who will have the guts to replace Saban? Here are some top candidates to know.
Top Candidates to be Alabama’s next head coach
The current favorite to be the Crimson Tide’s next coach is Oregon’s Dan Lanning. He has ties to Alabama, working as a graduate assistant for Saban in 2015. He then worked under Saban’s former defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart, as his defensive coordinator at Georgia before taking the head coaching job with the Ducks. At Oregon, Lanning amassed a 22-5 record over his first two seasons and has excelled both in recruiting and in the transfer portal. He’s a young coach (37 years old) who’s a rising star in the industry and could set his roots in Alabama.
Another name to watch is Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who’s long been considered the favorite to take over for Saban once he retires. Swinney was once a walk-on receiver at Alabama and coached there from 1993-2000. He then moved to Clemson where he’s been the head coach for the last 15 seasons. Swinney won two national championships with the Tigers, both coming over Saban’s Crimson Tide. However, Clemson’s finished outside the top-10 in each of the last three seasons and Swinney has been noticeably averse to using the transfer portal, one of college football’s most valuable tools in today’s game.
Lane Kiffin was Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama for three years before becoming Florida Atlantic’s head coach. He’s now the head coach at Ole Miss and is coming off a season where the Rebels won 11 games, the most in program history. He could return to Tuscaloosa to take over for his former boss.
Washington’s Kalen DeBoer is another name to keep an eye on. He led the Huskies all the way to the national championship game this year and has gone 25-3 in just two years as head coach. The year before, Washington finished just 4-8. DeBoer’s a proven winner, going 104-12 across his time at Washington, Fresno State and Sioux Falls (Division II).
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