LSU coaching search: Shaquille O'Neal claims Tigers have had conversations with Nick Saban

With LSU now a full week into its search for a new head football coach following last Sunday’s firing of fourth-year head coach Brian Kelly, at least one famous alum has his hopes set on a familiar name: Nick Saban. In a recent interview with US Weekly, NBA Hall of Famer and LSU legend Shaquille O’Neal revealed he’s “heard through the grapevine” that the program has held tentative conversations with the seven-time national championship head coach to return to Baton Rouge.

“I heard through the grapevine that they were having conversations with Nick Saban,” the 53-year-old O’Neal told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview. “That’d be awesome if we can bring Nick back.”

Of course, Saban, two years into his post-retirement career with ESPN, has already dismissed any interest in returning to the coaching sideline, including at LSU. But that hasn’t stopped Tigers fans like O’Neal from feeding speculation to the contrary.

“You know, I want to stay retired,” Saban said Oct. 24 on The Pat McAfee Show. “I do not want (agent Jimmy Sexton) anywhere near Miss Terry. Because when she hears some of these numbers, she gets interested. And I’m not interested.”

The 74-year-old Saban retired from coaching in early 2024 after 17 seasons and six national championships at Alabama (2007-23). But before that, Saban famously won his first-ever national title in 2003, the third of his four seasons as LSU head football coach (2000-04) before leaving for a failed two-year stint in the NFL as the Miami Dolphins head coach.

LSU formally moved on from Kelly on Oct. 26 after four medicore seasons in Baton Rouge that included zero championships after the previous three coaches — Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron each won a national championship in their third seasons at the helm.

Of course, O’Neal isn’t the first to suggest Saban as a potential option in Baton Rouge. Ex-ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay even predicted the Tigers would make Saban and Miss Terry an offer they couldn’t refuse. By all accounts, that’s nothing more than speculation at this point.

And in the meantime, O’Neal appears ready to sit back and watch how the LSU coaching search unfolds, even if he already has his top target in mind.

“We’re just gonna sit and see who they choose,” said O’Neal, who played basketball at LSU between 1989-92. “I know it will definitely be a winner and I know it’ll be somebody that’s in line with our culture. I know it’s somebody who’s going to bring us back to winning. We realize if you lose more than two games, we don’t get a significant bowl game.”