Alabama only considered two coaches to take Nick Saban’s place: report
When it came time to find a new head coach to replace Nick Saban, Alabama was down to just two candidates.
APRIL 7, 2024, 11:42 A.M. EST James Parksmar
Following Nick Saban’s shocking announcement that he would be leaving college football permanently, Alabama launched a quest to find his replacement. Kalen DeBoer was selected as the new head coach of the football team, but the search was limited to only two candidates from the start.

According to ESPN, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne considered only two candidates for the head coaching post: Mike Norvell, the head coach of Florida State at the moment, and DeBoer.

Following Saban’s shocking resignation from college football, there was a lot of conjecture regarding Alabama’s potential candidates and the coaches who would be appointed to the role.

At first, reports linked a number of other individuals to the Crimson Tide, most notably Dabo Swinney, the coach of Clemson, who had ties to the school as a former player for Gene Stallings’ 1992 national championship team, and current Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, as well as Texas coach Steve Sarkisian.

But in the end, Alabama narrowed the field to only two serious candidates right away and selected DeBoer to follow Nick Saban and lead the Tide into the future.