Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne held the job for nearly seven years without doing what could have been a paying job. He will be the one to choose who will replace Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
“I’m trying to watch and learn when (former UNC coach) Roy Williams retires and (former Duke coach) Mike Krzyzewski retires,”
Byrne said last year in 2021. Now everyone is watching Byrne try to recruit to someone who can keep Alabama.
He is at the highest level of college football. This isn’t Byrne’s first time hiring a football coach. Maybe he used Saban’s followers.
Alabama coach Nick Saban retired Wednesday. Saban is the greatest coach in college football history, leading Alabama to six national championships and a 206-29 record since taking the job in 2007. He’s also had his share of successes.
Dan Lanning is the expected front runner for the Alabama Head Coaching position. pic.twitter.com/UPM3tkSgzS
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) January 10, 2024
Saban’s stints at Toledo, Michigan State and LSU gave him a run. 297-71-1 record as a head coach and seven national titles. But Alabama has the best job, and many coaches want him at the top of college football.
Here are some of the candidates Byrne should hire as Alabama’s football coach or someone to replace Nick Saban,
Washington State head coach Kalen DeBoer
He coached Washington to a 25-3 record over two seasons, including a national championship appearance. DeBoer has won every head coaching position thus far with a 104-12 record.
DeBoer has no previous SEC experience, but has won at every level, including Sioux Falls (67-3 in 2005-09), Fresno State (12-6 in 2020-21) and Washington.
The Huskies went 25-3 under DeBoer and qualified for the national championship in 2023.
James Franklin, Head Coach, Penn State
Franklin has previous experience in the SEC thanks to a three-year stint at Vanderbilt (24-15 from 2011-13). He’s 88-39 as the head coach at Penn State since ’14.
Lane Kiffin, Head Coach, Ole Miss
Kiffin is another former Saban assistant who could get a look in this search.
Kiffin previously worked as Saban’s offensive coordinator from 2014-16 and is 34-15 as the head coach at Ole Miss since 2020.
Mike Norvell, Head Coach, Florida State
Norvell doesn’t fall into the Saban-disciple category, but he’s a coach who’s had success in multiple spots.
First at Memphis, he led the Tigers to a 12-1 season and the Cotton Bowl in 2019, finishing with a 38-15 record over four seasons with Memphis. Then, Florida State hired him.
Norvell started with two losing seasons, but the Seminoles have since tallied back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2022 and 2023.
Norvell has shown he knows what it takes to success in this era of college football. He’s had success already, and he’s only 42.
There’s high long-term upside there for Norvell, making him worthy of consideration for Byrne. Norvell has returned Florida State to one of the top programs in college football.
Since taking over in 2020, he’s 31-17 and guided the team to a 13-1 mark with an ACC Championship this year.
Dan Lanning, Head Coach, Oregon State
Saban had hoped to bring Lanning back to Alabama in 2018, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart did so two days before Saban.
“I have a lot of respect for Coach Saban,”
Lanning told On3.
“I probably learned more about football in my entire career than I did coaching.”
In his first season at Oregon, Lanning led the Ducks to a record 9-3 season with a regular season record ranked in the top 10.
Meanwhile, Lanning led Oregon to another successful season and once again ranked in the top 10.
Before joining Oregon State, Lanning served as Georgia’s quarterback from 2019-21.
Lanning led the Georgia defense in 2021, allowing just 10.2 points per game (first in the nation) and 268.5 yards per game (second in the nation).
Georgia went on to win the College Football Playoff.
Lanning served as a graduate assistant in Tuscaloosa in 2015 before working under Kirby Smart at Georgia from 2018-21.
He is considered one of the best defensive minds in college football and is 22-5 in his 22nd year as Oregon State’s head coach.
Steve Sarkisian, Texas head coach
Alabama and Sarkisian are a very successful duo. In his two seasons as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, he managed the third highest (2019) and second highest (2020) penalties in college football.
Sarkisian has extensive head coaching experience, having coached at Texas, Washington State and USC.
In fact, Sarkisian is one of the biggest success stories in Saban’s coaching revival.
“I think that when (the Sabans) got to know me and agreed to hire me and support my journey, that’s when they showed a lot of love that no one else could have,”
he said.
So, can Alabama pry Sarkisian from Texas?
Sarkisian earned $5.6 million this season, 30th among college football coaches. Perhaps a big raise combined with the prospect of returning to the place where he won a national championship could be enough temptation for Alabama to lure Sarkisian away from Texas.
Sarkisian worked under Saban as an analyst in 2016 and then served as the program’s offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2020.
Sarkisian is 25-14 as the head coach at Texas, including a 12-2 mark with a trip to the CFB Playoff in ’23.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney
Swinney, who signed a new contract with Clemson through 2031, is one of the highest paid coaches in college football.
Swinney has been Clemson’s coach since 2009, winning two College Football Playoff championships and earning a CFP trip in six of Clemson’s first eight seasons.
Clemson hasn’t won a national title since 2018. It’s nowhere near what it was a few years ago on this list, but Swinney will still be on the mind.
Swinney played at the University of Alabama and later served as an assistant coach for the program from 1996 to 2000.
Since becoming Clemson’s head coach in 2008, he is 170-43 and won two national championships.
According to online betting platform BetOnline, the betting odds for Alabama’s next coach to replace Nick Saban are Kalen DeBoer = +600, Lane Kiffin = +500, Dan Lanning = +300, Steve Sarkisian = +3500, Dabo Swinney = +400.
Fans expressed their view as follows:
I want Lane Kiffin or Kirby Smart
— Hunter (ye fan) (@DAT_B01_R0CKY) January 10, 2024
I would NOT want to be the guy to replace Saban, those are massive shoes to fill. I think Alabama might not be in the best shape going forwards…
— Blue Bloods Bias (@bluebloodsbias) January 10, 2024
Hes already reaffirmed his commitment to Oregon once this season, has Oregon in a really good spot heading into next year and is genuinely happy at Oregon. His words exactly were "There's zero chance I'm coaching somewhere else." He doesn't want to move his family again. Bama may…
— Dacota Haynes (@TheDacotaHaynes) January 10, 2024
It’s the question everyone wants to know the answer to…who will follow Nick Saban at Alabama?
Bet these odds:https://t.co/5VITGsyxZU pic.twitter.com/ot6f5NipYm
— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) January 10, 2024
Lanning would be an awesome hire if you can get him. But……You gotta wonder if Lanning would want the pressure to replace the GOAT with a great situation in Oregon.
— TheScarletPimpernel (@The__Pimpernel) January 11, 2024
Dan Lanning completely shuts down any rumor of him leaving Oregon.
"I'm not concerned about getting a better contract. I'm taken care of extremely well here. …I am not motivated by that. I am motivated by winning. I am motivated by being elite here." pic.twitter.com/HX3qjq8OiA
— Matt Prehm (@MattPrehm) November 14, 2023
Dan Lanning is a great coach, and seems perfect for Oregon right now….but I wonder if he’s truly ready for this kind of beast. You can sense he still has maturing to do as a head man
— ThomasMertonReader (@FatherLouisread) January 11, 2024
Big decision. Before NIL, leaving Oregon for Alabama is easy. It's a little different now. I think NIL makes programs far away from SEC-country more competitive. He might do well to stay in Eugene, but it depends all on how much $$$$ he is offered.
— Cee Mann (@Mann2Cee) January 10, 2024
Why guy has had every resource the billions on Nike really hasn’t been a serious championship contender in the hunt yeah kinda but not an actual championship contender like Alabama or Ohio State If anything he has underperformed. top 10 list ok but Alabama caliber NO
— timothy bullock (@tbstl1981) January 10, 2024
Saban should have let his school, players and fans know a year ahead to prepare he was leaving, family, friends and fans would have loved to come to see his last games and cheer him on to his last game! Now the school, players fans are in a tornado and it’s not started.
— 4shzzle (@4shzzle) January 11, 2024
I want to thank Coach Saban for EVERYTHING he & Mrs Terry have done for Alabama. It’s a very sad day for me as a fan. But I’m grateful we had him as long as we did. He deserves some time at the lake. Congrats on being the the GOAT & thank you for 17 great years! None better
— Gary Mullins (@garymullins) January 11, 2024
