Alabama Football: Tide fans worry about wrong hire when CNS retires

Alabama football fans worry about wrong hire when CNS retires

One thing is clear to Alabama football fans – no successor to Nick Saban will ever be enough. However ‘enough’ is defined, the man who follows Nick will never equal Saban.

Despite Saban’s eventual retirement likely being five to eight (or more) years into the future, Alabama football fans worry now. Check out any Alabama football message board. The topic is often hot enough to stretch into several pages.

Every individual “Xxxx Xxxxx would be a good replacement for Saban” claim elicits negative responses. The dissension should not surprise. Anyone pretending for fun to be Greg Byrne will quickly realize the enormity of the future task. To prepare, ADs are expected to always have a list ready. Assuming Byrne does, what are his standards for possible candidates?

Many Alabama football fans believe the next Crimson Tide coach must have won a National Championship. Starting with currently active coaches, the list would be only five names. The five are Dabo Swinney, Jimbo Fisher, Mack Brown, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. Only one of the five, Dabo Swinney, draws consistent interest from Alabama football fans.

Not all Crimson Tide fans are sold on Dabo. Those who are not now probably never will be. Even pro-Dabo fans admit, leaving Clemson to replace Nick Saban could become a massive miscalculation for the former Crimson Tide player.

Mentioning any of the other four brings a chorus of boos and hisses. If Greg Byrne starts with Dabo, one name is not a list. Urban Meyer’s name could be added to Byrne’s list. There are two problems with Urban. He may never coach again and many Crimson Tide fans despise him.

The expected next step for Byrne would be considering Saban disciples. There are many to choose from. Based on just current college football head coaches, the names Mario Cristobal, Jeremy Pruitt, Mel Tucker and Kirby Smart could be added. Every Crimson Tide fan reading the previous sentence shudders at the thought of one or more of those coaches. Cristobal is probably the most palatable of the quartet. The other three need time and success to ever be considered.

Might Byrne’s list include NFL head coaches? Certainly a few up-trending names could be added. Some of them would even have Saban coaching tree credentials.

What about college or NFL guys who are not head coaches? That seems unlikely, though if Steve Sarkisian waits for the opportunity, an interview by Byrne would make sense.

Might Byrne repeat his bold hiring of Nate Oats by choosing a dark horse candidate? Almost certainly, he will not. No offense to Oats, who was an outstanding hire, but Alabama basketball and Alabama football are worlds apart.

Why Nick Saban’s retirement should be several years away, is explained by FanSided’s Patrick Schmidt. We agree – Nick Saban is in no hurry to retire.

Getting back to Greg Byrne. He is one of the top ADs in the nation. When it is time, a REALLY smart guy like Byrne will make a good choice – want he? And all Alabama football fans will rally behind whoever it is. As long as it is not Kirby or Jeremy or Jimbo or Urban or …