Report: Dan Lanning, Dabo Swinney headline list of possible Nick Saban replacements at Alabama

Arguably the most attractive head coaching seat in college football came open on Wednesday when long time Alabama head coach Nick Saban told his team he was retiring. Who comes after him for the Crimson Tide has immediately become the pressing question.

ESPN CFB insider Pete Thamel shared a number of names that could be attractive to Alabama, even if they might be hard to pull from a current job. It includes a bevy of current Power 5 head coaches: Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (who played at Alabama), Penn State’s James Franklin, Florida State’s Mike Norvell and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman.

Thamel noted there are not any obvious internal replacements. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees just completed his first season in Tuscaloosa and is relatively young and defensive coordinator Kevin Steele retired from coaching earlier in the week.

Swinney, who bested Saban a number of times in the College Football Playoff during the late 2010s while leading Clemson, has long been thought of as a potential replacement for Saban. But the Tigers have tailed off in recent years and Swinney, who played receiver at Alabama in the 1990s, has a buyout that is more expensive if he were to leave for the Crimson Tide versus another school or NFL job.

Lanning, who most recently coached in the SEC as Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2021, has piloted Oregon to immense success during his two-year run leading the Ducks, nearly guiding them to the CFP in 2023. He seems content in Eugene and is poised to enter the Big Ten as a viable competitor to win the league, but a chance to lead the Crimson Tide and keep recruiting at the highest level could be enticing. He was previously a GA at Alabama.

DeBoer just coached Washington to an appearance in the national championship and boasts a blindingly successful track record as a head coach. But he lacks any SEC coaching experience and has only been an FBS head coach for a total of four years.

The other three — Franklin, Norvell and Freeman — are all locked in to contracts at attractive destinations, but could have their reasons to leave.

Penn State has struggled to break through the Big Ten’s glass ceiling and though divisions are going away, the league is getting even deeper. Norvell and the Seminoles were just kept out of the CFP despite going 13-0 and winning the ACC and going to the SEC, where missing the playoff in a similar scenario isn’t a seeming concern, could be attractive. And Freeman has had moderate success at Notre Dame, but could be looking to make his mark elsewhere and without some of the constraints all Irish coaches have to deal with.

No matter what, though, whoever Alabama hires to replace Saban has the unenviable task to being handed the reins of one of college footballs most impressive dynasties and trying to keep it on the tracks.