LISTEN: SiriusXM host says Nick Saban's coaching tree is something that has never happened in football
After Mike Locksley left Alabama this year to take the Maryland head coaching job, he became the latest in a long line of Nick Saban assistants to become head coaches.
It truly is astonishing how well Saban has been able to adapt to constantly losing assistants while managing to keep the Crimson Tide dominant.
On Wednesday, SiriusXM radio host Chris Childers said Saban’s ability to replace talent on his coaching staff is unprecedented in football history:
Former Nick Saban assistants that are head coaches of Power 5 programs:
-Jimbo Fisher
-Mark Dantonio
-Will Muschamp
-Kirby Smart
-Jeremy Pruitt
-Mario Cristobal
-Mike Locksley pic.twitter.com/U9rYlZfcNZ— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) December 12, 2018
“Nick Saban never has to go outside his own walls to replace coaches,” he says. “It is crazy. We’ve never seen anything like this in the history of football — never — where they have a system in place of quote unquote interns, that if a staff position opens — and they’re opening up left and right. I think we said something last week that 12 percent of Power 5 coaches are Nick Saban disciples. Everybody wants a piece of the pie. Everybody wants a piece of the process. Everybody.”
Will new Alabama OC Dan Enos be the next to land a head coaching job after the 2019 season? Only time will tell, but it’s safe to say other schools will come calling for several Alabama assistants next year.