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Nick Saban’s successor: ESPN insider floats potential candidates for Alabama vacancy
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Nick Saban is reportedly retiring with ESPN’s Chris Low breaking the story of the offseason in college football. Now, Alabama will have to find a new head coach for one of the best programs in the entire country.
The thought of replacing Saban is unfathomable as arguably the greatest head coach college football has ever seen calls it a career. Still, it’s the task facing the Crimson Tide, and ESPN’s Pete Thamel put together a quick list of potential candidates Wednesday evening.
According to Thamel, names to watch include Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Penn State’s James Franklin, Florida State’s Mike Norvell and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman. Of course, every individual in that group is an active head coach.
With no likely internal replacements at Alabama, here’s a quick projected target list. Dan Lanning, Kalen DeBoer, Dabo Swinney, James Franklin, Mike Norvell and Marcus Freeman. All come with complications and big buyouts, as it’s difficult to move entrenched coaches. https://t.co/0K2NWk8CtL
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 10, 2024
Watching Alabama’s head coaching search unfold will be the storyline of college football’s offseason. Saban and the Tide had not captured a national title since 2020, but Alabama played for the national title in 2021 and was in the Playoff this past season.
Whoever Alabama lands will inherit a program built to compete for championships immediately. However, the head coach will likely have to combat the transfer portal to keep some players in-house.
In the modern era of college football with the portal in play, Alabama is likely to move quickly in the search for Saban’s successor as teams turn the calendar to the 2024 season and a new 12-team Playoff.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
