Nick Saban never made a public declaration on who he would like to see succeed him as the Alabama head coach. There was no coach-in-waiting. There was no real time to plan. His retirement 19 months ago was abrupt and unexpected. One day, he was the Tide's head coach; the next, he was not.
Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne had a plan and executed it with near flawless precision. Byrne met with the team following Saban's announcement, asking them to give him 72-hours to find a new football coach before anyone made decisions on their future. After just 49 hours, Washington's Kalen DeBoer was on a plane with Byrne heading to Tuscaloosa.
But while Byrne was courting DeBoer and vetting a couple of other options, Saban decided to vet the interest of a candidate on his own, even if that candidate was always going to be a long shot.
According to an excerpt from an article by ESPN's Chris Low, Saban made an early morning phone call the day after he announced his retirement. That call went to Clemson head coach - and Alabama alumnus - Dabo Swinney, who was long considered to be the obvious replacement whenever Saban finally decided to retire, but the longer Saban stuck around, the less likely it became that Swinney was a realistic candidate for a multitude of reasons.
From the article:
"For years, Swinney's name was floated as the most likely replacement for Nick Saban when he retired at Alabama. And when Saban stepped down following the 2023 season, he reached out to Swinney. The two have built a friendship over the years and used to own homes near each other in Boca Grande, Florida.From Chris Low's Clemson article on ESPN
Granted, Saban wasn't doing the hiring for his successor, nor did he want to, and Alabama officials had already zeroed in on Kalen DeBoer and Mike Norvell, but there was an obvious connection between Swinney and his alma mater.
"Nick called me the next morning early, and we had a good conversation about a lot of things, but I'm where I'm supposed to be and that's the main thing," Swinney said. "I mean, listen, I know that's a question that would always be there. And again, I think they hired a great coach, and man, I love Alabama and always have, always will and will always pull for Alabama, except for when we play.
"But after 23 years, this is home.""
Dabo Swinney was never a realistic candidate for the Alabama job
Despite the obvious connections and the fact that Swinney clearly has a lot of love for the University of Alabama, he was never a realistic candidate, despite the phone call from Saban. For one, he's happy where he is, has next to zero pressure after leading Clemson to a pair of National Championships, and would have had to trade that in for the most rabid, demanding fanbase in college sports.
It has also been fair to question whether Clemson is a program on the decline, and Swinney's stubbornness, until recently, to utilize the Transfer Portal was seen as a big reason why. The Tigers have finished outside of the Top 10 four years in a row, leading to questions of whether the game has passed him by. He has seemingly built a really good team for 2025, and Clemson is among the favorites to win the National Championship this season, but results on the field are a lot different than paper.
Saban's call to Swinney still makes sense, and was likely out of respect more than anything. At one point, Swinney would have almost certainly been the first phone call Byrne made. Even if he had said no, you make him do so.
DeBoer was always at the top of the list of realistic options. Byrne communicated via back channels with Steve Sarkisian and Kirby Smart, but neither of them was ever going to leave their current jobs. But you make them say no.
Saban may not have been directly involved, but it was known that he held the Washington coaching staff in high regard. He thought highly of DeBoer as a football mind and tried on multiple occasions to hire away DeBoer assistants Ryan Grubb and JaMarcus Shephard.
Now, both guys are in Tuscaloosa, but Saban isn't reaping the benefits of their coaching acumen.
It's Kalen DeBoer's program now. It's his staff. It's his football team. And it should be a darn good one.