Alabama Football: What the pundits miss in the Nick Saban successor stories

Every offseason is filled with supposedly pundit wisdom on when Nick Saban will retire and who will be the successor. And the pundits are always wrong.

Offseasons are tough for those who cover college football. Desperate for ideas, standard fare includes a new round of Nick Saban retirement speculation. More popped up this week, perhaps motivated by Nick’s hip replacement surgery.

In the course of a week, it has been said Saban will retire within two or three years or he will coach well into his seventies. We are not including many quotes in this post, because only a few merit any attention.

There is one clear exception for two reasons. One the source, Chris Low, who despite being a Tennessee Volunteers guy, is a consummate professional. Second and even more important is the words have deeper meaning coming from the person who knows Nick Saban best, Miss Terry.

"Nick loves what he does. He loves the game. He loves being a teacher, a leader and being around young men. … Coaching is not his vocation. It’s his life."

The Sabans, and particularly Miss Terry, don’t much care for word games. On the most serious subjects, they unfailingly give thoughtful and honest responses. So everyone, make a note! Nick Saban will coach Alabama football as long as he is physically and mentally capable to perform at a high level.

Even with needing a new hip, Nick Saban is one of the healthiest 67-year old men around. Well before his tank runs dry, he will assess his own performance to assure he is the best man for the job. At some point in time, and that could easily be another ten seasons, he will step aside. As we wrote a year ago Nick Saban is in no hurry to retire.

So speculating about a replacement for Nick Saban is mostly foolishness. The coaching landscape of college football will have many changes before Greg Byrne or another University of Alabama Athletic Director is faced with replacing Nick Saban.

Some of the possible names discussed this week are laughable. First, other than possibly battling Texas A&M’s deepest pockets for Jimbo Fisher, the University of Alabama is able and will pay whatever it takes.

Why mention Jimbo? When the time comes, the Crimson Tide will pursue a national championship coach. A current list of those guys includes few names. In terms of active college coaches the list is three names; Saban, Dabo and Jimbo. Clemson has recently tried to build a moat around Dabo with a $93M contract. The buyout terms were even increased if Dabo chooses to leave for the Crimson Tide.

Dabo may never be the Alabama football head coach but a $6M buyout is an insignificant impediment. If Nick Saban coaches another eight seasons, Dabo Swinney would be only 57 years-old. He certainly would have another run in him.

The ‘Dabo will never leave Clemson’ crowd is large and they could be correct. But answer this – Dabo in eight years, with another one or two national championships in hand, and Mama calls – with a chance to win another national championship or two or three at your alma mater – complete with a statue of yourself, just two places over from your own beloved head coach, Gene Stallings? Saying no would be almost impossibly hard.

Enough of this Nick Saban and retirement nonsense.  We salute someone we cannot recall, who said within the last couple of months, Saban could easily coach as long as Joe Paterno. Paterno stepped down at 84. Bobby Bowden coached until he was 80.