Alabama football could remain in contention with any of these coaches
The College Football world receiving a shock on Wednesday evening when Chris Low reported that legendary Alabama head football coach Nick Saban would be retiring. Saban is a 7-time national champ (with 6 coming at Alabama), who has had Alabama at a consistent spot in the national title picture rarely ever seen. Saban has amassed a shocking 201-29 record at Alabama, with an overall College record of 292-71-1.
Replacing Saban will be a near-impossible feat for whoever the next Head Coach at Alabama is, but there will be very few coaches out there who would turn down the opportunity to coach at Alabama (and possibly be the highest paid coach in the country). With that being said, here are five candidates to replace Nick Saban at Alabama:
(*I also want to address Kirby Smart real quick. If Smart was not a Georgia guy, I think it would be a real possibility. However, I have a hard time seeing Smart leave the team that just won two straight national titles, with it also being the place where he played and grew up being a fan of. Sure, it's a possibility, but I left him off the list as I believe the NFL (if Smart grows tired of the wear-and-tear of the modern College Football landscape on a HC) is the only legit threat to pry Smart away from Athens. Smart is probably the most qualified person out there to replace Saban, but I'm not sure it would happen (but again, it is a possibility I guess. Albeit extremely unlikely)*)
No. 1 Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss Head Coach)
Whether he ends up with the job or not, I know that Kiffin will at least make things a little spicy. There might not be a better star pupil from the "Saban Coaching Rehabilitation Clinic" than Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin. After his stops with the Raiders,
Tennessee and USC didn't exactly go smoothly, Kiffin took the OC job at Alabama where he helped usher Alabama's offense into the new age of College Football from 2014-2016. Kiffin then took the head job at FAU before heading to Ole Miss where he now has the Rebels looking like legit contenders.
Saban and Kiffin always had a unique relationship with each other, but there was a ton of respect between the two and I'm sure Saban would be elated with Kiffin being his heir-apparent.
Kiffin just led Ole Miss to their first 11 win season in school history and a top 10 ranking to finish the season to go along with a Peach Bowl victory.
There aren't many hotter names out there in terms of trajectory, offensive ingenuity, and recruiting (especially the transfer portal) than Kiffin right now. Kiffin currently has a 34-15 record at Ole Miss and a 95-49 record overall as a College Head Coach. While there will always be the threat of Kiffin leaving to return to the NFL, I believe he'll be one of the top 2-3 candidates for the Alabama job.