Names to Watch For Nick Saban's Replacement at Alabama

Who will become the next Crimson Tide head coach?

Shockwaves rippled throughout the college football world when Nick Saban announced his retirement Wednesday night after 17 seasons as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. 

Now the question on everyone's mind: Who will replace Saban?

This is one of the most attractive coaching vacancies in college football and all of sports. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is known for working quickly and quietly during coaching searches and outlined what he's looking for in the next head coach. 

The new head coach will likely be announced by the end of the week. Here are some names to keep an eye on throughout the coaching search.

Dan Lanning- Oregon head coach

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Dan Lanning has amassed a 22-5 record as head coach at Oregon over the last two seasons in his first head coaching job. 

Prior to his position at Oregon, Lanning spent four seasons at Georgia working under Kirby Smart, winning a national title in 2021. The two first worked together under Saban at Alabama in 2015 when Smart was defensive coordinator and Lanning was a graduate assistant for the Tide. If Smart hadn't snagged Lanning to come work for the Bulldogs, it was reported that Saban was interested in giving him a staff position with Alabama at the time. 

While Lanning doesn't have a ton of head coaching experience yet at just 37 years old, he has had a lot of success with the Ducks in a short period of time. He also has worked directly under Saban and knows what "the process" is like. Lanning has been a successful recruiter around the Southeast and now has ties on the West Coast as well. 

Steve Sarkisian- Texas head coach

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Steve Sarkisian will be one of a few coaches that ends their career with a winning streak against Saban with Sarkisian's Longhorns knocking off the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa back in September. 

The current Texas head man is a guy with a lot of head-coaching experience on his resume with stops at Washington, USC and now Texas. He has also coached in the NFL as the Atlanta Falcon's offensive coordinator. In Year 3 at Texas in 2023, he took the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff for the first time. 

Sarkisian had two different tenures in Tuscaloosa starting in 2016 as an analyst before heading to the NFL. He then spent two seasons working under Saban as the Crimson Tide's offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020. He led the historically great 2020 Alabama offense and DeVonta Smith's Heisman run. 

He is a strong recruiter, has connections around the country and is already familiar with the Alabama program and fan base. Technically, Sarkisian acted as the Crimson Tide head coach for one game in 2020 when Nick Saban had COVID for the Iron Bowl. 

Lane Kiffin- Ole Miss head coach

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Lane Kiffin's time in Tuscaloosa is well documented. Kiffin worked under Saban from 2014-2016 as offensive coordinator, completely transforming the offense and helping lead Alabama to three straight SEC championships and the 2015 national title. 

Kiffin comes from a football family and has lots of experience as a head coach at both the collegiate and professional level. Before his tenure at Alabama, Kiffin was head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee and USC. Since, he has been the head coach at FAU and currently is with the Ole Miss Rebels. 

He has a 95-49 record as head coach. At 48 years old, this would be Kiffin's dream job and could be his career's landing spot if successful. He would meet Byrne's criteria of a strong recruiter and relationship builder

DeMeco Ryans- Houston Texans head coach

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This is one of the more unlikely options as DeMeco Ryans is currently an NFL head coach of a team with a young franchise quarterback in CJ Stroud. He also wouldn't necessarily meet Byrne's criteria as a good recruiter since Ryans has no college coaching experience. 

But as a former Alabama player, his name has to be on the list. Ryans has led the Houston Texans to a 10-7 record and the playoffs in his first season as an NFL head coach. He previously spent six seasons as an assistant with the San Fransisco 49ers. 

Kalen DeBoer- Washington head coach

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Kalen DeBoer is one of the hottest names in college coaching. He has soared up the ranks in the college football world going from an assistant at Indiana to taking a different team to the CFP National Championship game all within five years. 

DeBoer has been the head coach of the Washington Huskies since 2022. This season, Washington finished with a 14-1 record as the runner-ups in the CFP title game to Michigan. 

Before Washington, DeBoer was the head coach at Fresno State for two seasons. He has a 37-9 record as an FBS head coach. DeBoer is one of the names on the list that has no connections to Alabama. 

Dabo Swinney- Clemson head coach

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The connections with Dabo Swinney are obvious. Swinney is from Alabama, played at Alabama and started his coaching career at Alabama. He's also the only coach on this list with a national title. 

Swinney has been the head coach at Clemson full time since 2009, winning two national titles with the Tigers (both over Saban and Alabama.) Swinney has a special stipulation in his contract that makes his buyout larger for Alabama than other schools. However, it would only be about $7.5 million, which is not a lot compared to the $20 million buyout needed for Lanning or $12 million for DeBoer. 

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