Four Nick Saban Replacements at Alabama
Nick Saban is retiring as the head coach at Alabama. The 72-year-old will step down as almost undoubtedly the greatest college football coach of all time. His run of six national championships during his time in Tuscaloosa may never be matched. Now the school must shift its attention to the near-impossible task of replacing a legend. It is likely to have its pick of top candidates. Here's a look at four coaches who could fit the bill.
Dan Lanning
Lanning has SEC bonafides from his four seasons under Kirby Smart at Georgia, three of those came as the defensive coordinator. He's 22-5 in two seasons as Oregon's head coach and led the Ducks to a Fiesta Bowl win this year. He's young (36), energetic, is recruiting like crazy and has the defense-first ethos that has worked so well for Saban at Alabama.
While Lanning can clearly coach, he's also shown to be adept at handling the new world of college football. Oregon has done incredibly well establishing an NIL pipeline and navigating the tricky world of the transfer portal.
Kalen DeBoer
DeBoer's star has risen incredibly quickly over the past two seasons with Washington. He turned Fresno State around in two seasons, getting the Bulldogs to 9-3 in 2021 and has gone 25-3 at Washington, including 14-1 this season with a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. While the Huskies lost to Michigan in the title game, it's clear DeBoer knows how to create a great team.
DeBoer's staff did an incredible job developing the roster it inherited from the previous regime at Washington. That development is paying off as more and more recruits and transfers are paying attention to the program. While his recruiting classes haven't been stellar, he's beginning to land impact transfers. That should begin trickling down to prep recruiting. With the resources he'd have at Alabama, he could create a monster.
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin has grown up a lot since he was pushed out as Alabama's offensive coordinator in early 2017. He coached under Saban during a national championship run in 2015. He took the head job at FAU in 2017 and went 26-13 in three seasons -- he was 11-3 in 2017 and 10-3 in 2019. Ole Miss hired him after and the Rebels have been excellent with Kiffin in charge. They've gone 34-15 since his arrival, including 20-13. In 2023 they went 11-2 and won the Peach Bowl, topping Penn State 38-25.
Like Lanning, Kiffin has been incredible at navigating college football's new reality. He has always been an outstanding recruiter and that has carried over into the transfer portal, where Ole Miss is always a player for top talent. All that and I haven't even mentioned that Kiffin possesses one of the best offensive minds in football. A bonus: He understands how the game is played in Tuscaloosa and is audacious enough to welcome the challenge.
Dabo Swinney
Swinney is an Alabama alum whose tenure might have run its course at Clemson. He's been wildly successful in his 16 seasons with the Tigers. Under his watch, Clemson has won eight ACC titles, 10 Atlantic Division titles and two national championships. He's gone 170-43 since taking over as the interim head coach in 2008. The Tigers went 9-4 during a transition year in 2023 and people were calling for Swinney's head. Maybe it's time for him to go back home. Not only did he play for the Tide, he was on staff at his alma mater from 1993 until 2001.
Swinney's Clemson program has always recruited on a high level. Despite his public bemoaning of the new world of NIL, eventually he's going to realize he has to embrace it. A fresh start at Alabama could create a fresh perspective for the 54-year-old.