The five worst choices Alabama could make replacing Nick Saban

Even mighty Alabama could fall victim to the land mines that scattered across the coaching landscape. These are the five mistakes that the Crimson Tide must not make when searching for Nick Saban's successor.

By Josh Yourish | Jan 12, 2024, 7:45 AM EST

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney meets with Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban / Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

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5. Jimbo Fisher

After the verbal sparring between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher at SEC media day over NIL deals, it’s not likely that Saban’s former assistant would get a call about taking over Alabama after just failing to produce a winning team at Texas A&M.

However, it’s important to remind anyone who would fantasize about a reconciliation between the two West Virginia natives and a passing of the torch in Tuscaloosa why that’d be a catastrophic decision.

Jimbo Fisher did a fantastic job adapting to the modern college football world, utilizing A&M’s oil riches and massive NIL war chest to claim a historically great recruiting class in 2022. Fisher signed eight five-stars in that class and out-recruited Saban and Alabama.

The problem with Fisher shows up on the field, where he’s still stuck in 2012. Fisher’s outdated offense ranked 96th in 2022 which forced him to bring in the much-maligned Bobby Petrino to call plays in 2023. The Aggies improved to 53rd in total offense this season, but that was without Fisher on the sidelines for the final three games.

Fisher could get the same caliber of talent that Saban did, but he never showed a willingness to empower innovative coordinators, which was always Saban’s superpower.

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