I confess this opinion piece views the college football world through crimson lenses. With that vision, I see college football programs chasing a reality that can no longer exist. Every program with high aspirations would love to hire Nick Saban. None of them can, but they are not at fault for trying.
What they are missing is that the college football world that Nick Saban dominated from 2009 through 2020 no longer exists. There will never be another GOAT who wins six national championships in the span of 12 seasons. If Saban were 64, or 54, instead of 74, not even he could do it again.
College football fans can debate which current coach is the game's best: Ryan Day, Lane Kiffin, Kirby Smart, Dan Lanning, along with several others. What is not reasonable to debate is that any of them will come close to equaling Nick Saban.
Free agency for players is the reason why. Attempts to constrain it are valiant, but so far are lacking. The current college football reality is that rosters require significant rebuilds every season. Coaches cannot stockpile players, as champions did for most of college football's history.
College Football Never More Profitable
What has been gained is increased parity. As an entertainment property, college football has never been more exciting or more profitable.
Last season's big debate has continued this season. It has how to navigate team rankings with unequal schedules. It is worth remembering that when championships were awarded through popular contests (traditional polls), schedules were far from equal. In 1956, the Oklahoma Sooners won a back-to-back National Championship. The 10-0 Sooners played no ranked teams that season. In 1961, Alabama's National Championship team beat one ranked team: No. 9 Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.
The more profitable world of college football drives increased pressure. For many programs, success is defined as making the Playoffs and at least winning one game. Anything below that is failure. By that measure, college football will have a few dozen failures this season. Many will seek success through a coaching change.
Recent coaching transition cycles will repeat. Big buyouts will be paid. New contracts will include new highs in coach compensation. The most given result is that every new coach will be expected to bring new glory.
What LSU, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas (and possibly soon, South Carolina and Kentucky) need to do is stop trying to find Saban-like championship success. Those days are over.
Note: Team records provided by Sports Reference