On Wednesday evening, legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban announced his retirement from coaching, leaving Alabama after 17 seasons and seven national championships with Alabama. With his departure, the Crimson Tide now needs a new head coach, and a few names have obviously emerged as potential candidates.
One name that has been thrown out as a potential successor to Nick Saban even before his retirement was current Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. Though Sanders does not have a lot of head coaching experience, he has certainly brought a lot more attention to Colorado and quickly found success previously at Jackson State.
As a result, it sounds like Sanders is considered one of the frontrunners to land the Alabama job as BetOnline.ag lists him at 6/1 odds to become the next head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide – tied for the sixth-best odds with Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer and behind only Oregon coach Dan Lanning, Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney, and Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin.
Here’s a full list of the potential candidates via Cole Cubelic:
- Dan Lanning 3/1
- Dabo Swinney 4/1
- Lane Kiffin 5/1
- Deion Sanders 6/1
- Kalen DeBoer 6/1
- Pat Shurmur 9/1
- Urban Meyer 10/1
- Billy Napier 14/1
- Derek Dooley 14/1
- Mike Norvell 16/1
- Ryan Day 20/1
- DeMeco Ryans 22/1
- Marcus Freeman 22/1
- James Franklin 25/1
- Sherrone Moore 25/1
- Mike Shula 28/1
- Steve Sarkisian 35/1
- Will Muschamp 40/1
- Mario Cristobal 50/1
- Mike Vrabel 50/1
- Dan Quinn 66/1
- Brian Daboll 75/1
- Butch Jones 75/1
- Ha Ha Clinton-Dix 75/1
- Major Applewhite 75/1
- Tommy Rees 75/1
- Bill Belichick 80/1
- Bill O’Brien 80/1
- Pete Carroll 80/1
- Adam Gase 100/1
- Greg McElroy 100/1
- Jason Garrett 100/1
- Jim Harbaugh 100/1
- Jimbo Fisher 100/1
- Ken Whisenhunt 100/1
- Kirby Smart 100/1
We’ll have to see who Alabama ultimately hires, but it seems like Sanders is expected to be a candidate.
