Alabama’s Greg Byrne is a smart and capable athletic director, but if I were a football coach with a good Power 5 job right now, I would block his number.
Replacing Nick Saban was always going to be a thankless job, and to understand why, you don’t even have to look beyond Tuscaloosa. For decades, the Alabama Crimson Tide were the example of why you don’t want to follow a legend. After replacing Bear Bryant, Ray Perkins, a former Alabama All-American, lasted four seasons. Bill Curry lasted three; his last team finished in the top 10, but he was still unpopular and he bolted for Kentucky. Gene Stallings, one of Bryant’s “Junction Boys” at Texas A&M, did win a national title, but the door kept revolving until Saban arrived in 2007. By that point, Bryant had been dead for 24 years.
Alabama fans expect championships. Saban delivered them with remarkable regularity. But the challenge for the next coach will be even bigger than it appears, because college football is no longer set up for anyone to be that dominant. Even if Byrne somehow identifies and then hires the next Saban, that person won’t win like Saban did.
