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RJ Young
FOX Sports National College Football Analyst
Two days after the College Football Playoff national title game and just nine days removed from watching the No. 1-ranked Michigan Wolverines defeat his team in the Rose Bowl, Nick Saban, the greatest football coach the sport has ever seen, reportedly announced his retirement at Alabama on Wednesday.
With this decision, Saban has not only thrown out of balance one of the most powerful and dominant programs in the country, but squarely placed Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne in a position to make what will be the sport’s most consequential hire since Pat Haden sought a replacement for Pete Carroll at USC.
Fittingly, Saban and Carroll have always been linked.
The two passed each other on the way in and out of Ohio State when Buckeyes legend Earle Bruce picked Saban to replace Carroll as secondary coach at OSU in 1980.
And on Wednesday, Carroll, one of just three coaches to win both a Super Bowl and a national title (along with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer), announced he’d be moving from head coach to the front office of the Seattle Seahawks after 14 years in that post.
This also must be processed alongside the knowledge that New England Patriots coach and Saban’s very close friend, Bill Belichick, is likely on his way out of the organization where he has been head coach since 2000 and won a record six Super Bowls.
While each one of these men — Saban, Belichick and Carroll — have forged Hall of Fame résumés, combined to win nine national titles and seven Super Bowls, no coach has seen more players selected in the first round of the NFL Draft than Saban.
Through changes in the sport ranging from the postseason, to the number of regular-season games played, to the invention of the transfer portal, to the monetization of name, image and likeness, Saban has set the standard for excellence in a sport that demands dominance and perfection in equal…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/nick-saban-leaves-the-widest-gaping-hole-in-college-football-history
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Publish date : 2024-01-10 23:46:42
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