Another SEC West football program is looking for a head coach.

On Sunday, Texas A&M bit the bullet and took the $70-plus million haircut, parting ways with Jimbo Fisher and his guaranteed contract less than 6 full years into his tenure at College Station. It was a surprising move only in that the Aggies will be paying Fisher an insane amount of money not to coach their football team.

But it was an insane contract to begin with, in a division where insanity has ruled supreme for the last decade-plus with coaches coming and going and programs switching gears with alarming regularity.

How crazy has this division gotten recently with its changing of the guards? Well, both LSU and Auburn have fired national championship coaches within 2 years of winning the title. Texas A&M becomes the 4th program in the 7-team division to change head coaches within the last 3 years. And within the last 5 years, 6 of the 7 programs have made a coaching change.

What is going on here? Why are these programs running around with their hair on fire? Who’s to blame?

The answer is simple. If you want to point a finger, point it at Alabama’s Nick Saban. He’s to blame. He’s the one everybody’s chasing. He’s the measuring stick.

It’s Nick Saban’s fault. He’s to blame for SEC West coaches not living up to league’s inordinately high standard. He’s the one who’s set the unrealistic bar. Unrealistic for everyone else, that is. Heck, even national championships aren’t enough to secure longevity in this division: Ask Les Miles; ask Gene Chizik; ask Ed Orgeron.

Yes, Nick Saban has set unattainable goals for the rest of the league, sending rival ADs on wild goose chases in desperate attempts at duplicating what the G.O.A.T. has accomplished. Blame Saban for the “championship-or-bust” mentality that the SEC West lives by these days. Anything less than a 1- or 2-loss season is deemed a failure. It’s all Saban’s fault.

If you’re Jimbo Fisher, you can also thank Saban for that contract to begin with. At the very least, he should send Saban a case of Little Debbie oatmeal crème pies, his favorite snack of choice. Without Saban, Fisher would likely have rotted away with the Florida State program.

Yes, Saban has orchestrated this whole crazy coaching carousel within the SEC West. No, that wasn’t his intention. He has more important responsibilities than to worry about what everyone else in the division is doing relative to their hirings and firings.

But his success, much like that of the great Bear Bryant before him, has dictated those actions by the rest of the division, forced them to try to keep up with his unduplicatable pace.

The blame for all this insanity sits squarely on the shoulders of 72-year-old Nick Saban.

And as long as he roams the sidelines at Alabama, there will be no rest for the competing programs in the SEC West. Maybe the pressure will be eased somewhat beginning next season when there are no longer divisions, and the microscope isn’t so keenly focused on those particular programs. Maybe they can then get somewhat lost in the shuffle of a 16-team league. But then again, maybe not. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on their part.

More likely than not, the mad scramble will continue as it’s gone on over the past 10-15 years.

Saban has sent SEC West ADs out chasing ghosts. They’ve been hunting things that don’t exist. Nick Saban is the G.O.A.T. for a reason. There are no others like him save for perhaps … perhaps a disciple like Kirby Smart, his former DC. One thing we do know, it isn’t Jimbo Fisher.