The painful truth about the Alabama coaching search
The dust has finally settled and there is an empty office at the Mal Moore Athletics Facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The office will sit empty until one of the biggest coaching hires in all of North American sports is made. Who on planet Earth will replace Nick Saban?
His decision to retire from coaching shocked the nation in ways many had not predicted. The greatest college football head coach chose to go out in the most Saban-way imaginable: a snap judgment made five minutes before a pre-scheduled meeting on a random Wednesday shortly after the season ended.
No farewell tour, no planning ahead, no balloons and confetti. He didn’t need it, and I can almost guarantee you he wouldn’t have wanted it.
Now, Saban is working alongside University of Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne to hire a replacement. Their goal is simple: Find someone who can carry on the tradition of winning in Tuscaloosa. The standard has been set by Saban, which means the next coach to roam Bryant-Denny’s sidelines will have the weight of the entire Yellowhammer State on his shoulders.
The coaching search has been active for just over a day, but it’s felt like decades to many Tide fans.
Who knows what?
The answer is no one. Unless you are Greg Byrne, Nick Saban or Jimmy Sexton (agent for Saban and many other high-profile coaches), your opinion or report can’t be substantiated. When the coaching search officially began, at least to the public’s knowledge, Byrne shared a brief statement to social media. Pay close attention to his final sentence.
“If you don’t hear it from me, don’t believe it.”
Now that doesn’t sound like only a caution to be wary of misinformation; it feels like a warning that a lot of “news” will be spread, but that none of it should be considered legitimate if you did not hear it from him.
Some may think it’s a bit over the top, but when you’re trying to replace the Greatest of All Time, information doesn’t leak, it’s dealt. This is chess, not checkers.
There wasn't a predetermined successor.
For years, fans and media members asked if and when Saban would retire. Not a soul had that answer, not even Coach himself knew until around 4 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.
After asking when he was leaving, the following question was always, without fail, who would replace him? There seemed to be some sort of consensus that the next in line would appear from behind a curtain, or perhaps a wall of trophies and instantly begin coaching. After all, that is what happens in royalty, right?
Well, we finally have our answer. It appears there wasn’t someone waiting in the wing to accept the crown. This notion burst the bubbles of many fans who had expected an instant coronation ceremony when Saban retired. Though Alabama is the gold standard in college football, the program is still like any other at its core, and it must now search around for the best possible fit.
Let's face it, the candidates are unknown.
When I say unknown, I really mean undisclosed. Those who are orchestrating this hiring process likely have a short list of candidates they’d like to reach out to. I’d venture to guess they’ve already met or spoken to most or all of them by now. The only issue is that we have zero clue who they are, when the conversations happened, where they took place and how they went. It’s the fundamentals of journalism, and here we are.
So far, rumors of all sorts have been flying regarding people and places all over the country.
Was Dan Lanning ever in Tuscaloosa these past few days? That’s a great question. The answer is a resounding no. He was in Eugene watching a movie with his son while those reports were going viral.
I’ll do you one better: Was Lanning even offered the job? We don’t have an absolute answer to that question, but it appears not, despite the well-produced video he shared on social media announcing his intention to stay at Oregon and go nowhere else.
In the vein of Lanning’s announcement, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian’s shared a late-night social media post stating: “It’s a great day to be a Longhorn!!” Many assume this to be Sarkisian, the former Alabama offensive coordinator, pledging his allegiance to the University of Texas and ignoring the Crimson Tide job opening.
While many fans were talking about Sarkisian as an option, no solid news of a visit or conversation surfaced in the last day or so. His post appears to serve as a rejection of any interest from the Tide, but we don’t know if the Alabama camp ever made contact with him.
What about candidates who haven't publicly addressed rumors?
At the time of writing this, it appears the two big-name candidates Alabama is reportedly interested in are Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer and Florida State head coach Mike Norvell.
Both candidates have proven they can win, which is one of the requirements of being the new Crimson Tide head coach.
However, the only reason the masses believe they are the top two candidates is because rumors have swirled and the coaches haven’t addressed them directly. Surely their silence is an admission of interest in the Alabama job, right? Wrong.
Maybe the reports are true that both DeBoer and Norvell are finalists for the position and are in the advanced stages of the interview process. The issue is, by that logic, I could say that Gus Malzahn is interviewing for the job and is highly regarded by Alabama’s decision-makers. Is it true just because he hasn’t squashed that claim? You can decide for yourself.
Unless the source of the report is Greg Byrne, we have been instructed not to believe it.
There could be more possible targets beyond what is being reported.
Now that we have established that only a few people have actual answers, we can do a little bit of mental gymnastics.
As I mentioned with Malzahn, I very easily could use this space to throw out a few hilarious names that make no sense for the Crimson Tide. However, what I will do is use this as an opportunity to remind you that there’s a likelihood the search goes beyond the few names you’ve seen heavily circulating social media.
Unless you hear it from Byrne, it’s presumed to not be true. So, if Byrne’s pick for the next Alabama football head coach seems an odd decision that blindsided everyone, remember you were only surprised by it because you chose not to think of it as a possibility.
What now?
I have a strong feeling this search will not last much longer, so my advice is to have fun with it.
Feed into the reports and rumors, analyze the flight trackers and search recently-liked posts of coaches online for clues. This is the first head coaching vacancy Alabama has had in the era of mass communication via social media.
This is a very worrisome time for many lifelong Crimson Tide fans, and that is understandable, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying this unique experience that won’t happen again for quite some time, assuming the next head coach can adequately fill the huge shoes left behind by his predecessor.
Regardless of whether the next hire is a hit or a bust, you will remember this time and will talk about it when the Tide brings home another h`alf-dozen national titles under the leadership of someone not named Nick Saban.
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