2024 -25 College Football and College Football Playoff Thread

[Uncle Rico]

Nah, that ship has sailed.
My money says Lane Kiffin (there's a reason he didn't take the Auburn gig last year) or Dan Lanning (former Bama assistant).

Not positive Lanning takes it but I would.  Going to the Big Ten is going to suck.

[JWags85]

Absolutely the greatest college football coach of all time. And one who I really have grown to enjoy - he is weirdly intense and quirky, and he has kinda leaned into it in a funny way.

He seemed to all of a sudden pop into some serious self awareness midway through his time at Bama and became really entertaining.  He was a classic obsessive weirdo coach for a long time and then 180'd into a philosophical sort of interview.  He was super likable and pragmatic/realistic in the way he spoke about the sport the last 5-7 years...the anti-Dabo.

The coaching search will be fascinating cause it's actually a horrible job. Insane suffocating fan base and expectations in a brutal conference with the current best program in the country always in your way...plus following the best coach of all time.

Lanning is being reported as the top candidate but I would actually be shocked if he left Oregon to take it 

Kiffin is a good shout and may be brash enough to find a way to make it work

[tower912]

Never be the coach who replaces a legend.

[Uncle Rico]

He seemed to all of a sudden pop into some serious self awareness midway through his time at Bama and became really entertaining.  He was a classic obsessive weirdo coach for a long time and then 180'd into a philosophical sort of interview.  He was super likable and pragmatic/realistic in the way he spoke about the sport the last 5-7 years...the anti-Dabo.

The coaching search will be fascinating cause it's actually a horrible job. Insane suffocating fan base and expectations in a brutal conference with the current best program in the country always in your way...plus following the best coach of all time.

Lanning is being reported as the top candidate but I would actually be shocked if he left Oregon to take it 

Kiffin is a good shout and may be brash enough to find a way to make it work

I have a a large contingent of Bama grads in the family.  Hasn't been this dark since Bear Bryant died

[Pakuni]

RIP Bama dynasty

It's an almost certainty the next coach won't measure up, because no one has ever measured up.
But if they make a good hire, it'll still be a top program. The money, facilities, culture, etc., aren't going away. This isn't Tom Osborne leaving Nebraska.

[Dish]

Go full heel turn...Urban Meyer.

[MDMU04]

Don't sleep on Sark either

[Dr. Blackheart]

Pat Fitzgerald is available

[MurphysTillClose]

Nah, that ship has sailed.
My money says Lane Kiffin (there's a reason he didn't take the Auburn gig last year) or Dan Lanning (former Bama assistant).

Was half-kidding but I'd bet money on a Lanning or Sark over Kiffin.

[MDMU04]

DeMeco Ryans is an interesting possibility too

[Uncle Rico]

It's an almost certainty the next coach won't measure up, because no one has ever measured up.
But if they make a good hire, it'll still be a top program. The money, facilities, culture, etc., aren't going away. This isn't Tom Osborne leaving Nebraska.

No, not a chance they become irrelevant like Nebraska but no coach is winning 6 titles in 17 years and play in 3 other title games.

His ability to overcome staff changes, rosters full of early entries and not stagnate and be willing to adapt to a game around him is unmatched.  He's the greatest ever. 

[Uncle Rico]

I'll say, rumors had been swirling in the far reaches of the intrawebs about this possibility.  Won't be shocked if Bama people were aware of this and have been working behind the scenes to have a replacement ready

[MDMU04]

I'll say, rumors had been swirling in the far reaches of the intrawebs about this possibility.  Won't be shocked if Bama people were aware of this and have been working behind the scenes to have a replacement ready

Agree, I doubt this caught anyone in Tuscaloosa off guard. I'd actually be more surprised if Saban wasn't/isn't closely involved in selecting his replacement than if he just surprised everyone out of nowhere.

[lawdog77]

Harbaugh. John and Jim as co head coaches. Crean as recruiting coordinator.

[GB Warrior]

Tuberville to bama

[JWags85]

DeMeco Ryans is an interesting possibility too

Not even a sliver of a chance.  A young NFL HC who made it to that level before the age of 40, who just made the playoffs in his first year and has spent his entire coaching career in the NFL, is not going back to take a college job.

[Lennys Tap]

I have a a large contingent of Bama grads in the family.  Hasn't been this dark since Bear Bryant died

Did they go to 'Bama before or after they started requiring a GED to attend?

[Herman Cain]

Liked Saban since he was at Michigan State .

Bama has a long history of success and I am  confident their next Head Coach  will continue in that tradition.

[WhiteTrash]

Liked Saban since he was at Michigan State .

Bama has a long history of success and I am  confident their next Head Coach  will continue in that tradition.

I have no doubt Bama will continue to be very successful but it would not shock me if 6 years from now if we are asking "has it really been 10 years since Bama won it all?". For someone to be even half as successful as Saban would be an monstrous achievement.

[The Sultan]

I was reading a story this morning about the only time Saban was fired. He was the defensive backs coach under Earl Bruce, and Bruce fired the entire defensive staff after a bowl game - that they won. One of the reasons was that the defensive staff was seeing that the Big Ten was becoming more of a passing league, and Saban wanted guys who could cover, while Bruce was in favor of more defensive backs who could hit.

Anyway, the guy Saban replaced as defensive backs coach when he got the job? Pete Carroll.

[MU82]

I liked this from Yahoo Sports:

Saban didn't just build a powerhouse football program at Alabama — he transformed the university and the city. Since his arrival, Tuscaloosa has grown from 89,000 residents to 110,000, and Alabama's enrollment has jumped from 25,000 to 40,000, with out-of-state students now representing a majority of its student body.

Alabama paid Saban more than $130 million over his 16 seasons there. As Huddle Up's Joe Pompliano notes, you could argue he was worth more than $1 billion.

"Nick Saban is the best investment this university has ever made," said Alabama chancellor Robert Witt in a 2013 interview with "60 Minutes."

[WhiteTrash]

I liked this from Yahoo Sports:

Saban didn't just build a powerhouse football program at Alabama — he transformed the university and the city. Since his arrival, Tuscaloosa has grown from 89,000 residents to 110,000, and Alabama's enrollment has jumped from 25,000 to 40,000, with out-of-state students now representing a majority of its student body.

Alabama paid Saban more than $130 million over his 16 seasons there. As Huddle Up's Joe Pompliano notes, you could argue he was worth more than $1 billion.

"Nick Saban is the best investment this university has ever made," said Alabama chancellor Robert Witt in a 2013 interview with "60 Minutes."

Good stuff. I don't know if I would actually want that job after Saban. No matter how good that guy is, he is assured to be a step backwards.

[The Sultan]

Spencer Hall wrote this about Saban:

"His first championship came at LSU, a program Saban completely gutted and renovated on every level. Ask Marcus Spears how he changed the way black athletes in the state of Louisiana felt about the school prior to his arrival. Nick Saban changed what LSU was in the early 2000s, and in the course of doing so, changed what they've been ever since: The premiere program in the state, and a legit national championship threat.

He rebuilt Alabama, too, something previously thought impossible. Before Saban, Alabama's fractious parliament of power brokers elected coaches via melee. When they hired Saban in 2007, he stripped their siege engines for parts and told the booster corps to shut up and let him cook. Nick never blasphemed The Bear, but he also never publicly bent knee either to the Tuscaloosa old guard or its bloated self-estimation of Alabama's innate worth. Saban got on the boosters' necks to shut up and write checks, displayed no tolerance for much of the static that dogged his predecessors, and via the only currency anybody involved understood (dubs, darlin'), began to amalgamate a creature that only answered to him and the scoreboard."

[Pakuni]

My two favorite Saban moments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qygVg7-T_Zo

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BOrxdGcGSdk

[CreightonWarrior]

Not going to be Lanning. I think the Lane Train rolls into town.