The fallout from Nick Saban's retirement from Alabama almost led to another big time program pursuing Lane Kiffin
When Nick Saban retired from Alabama in January, it impacted numerous programs across college football. Saban's retirement led to the Crimson Tide hiring Kalen DeBoer from Washington, which then led to Washington hiring Jedd Fisch from Arizona. Numerous assistant coaches also changed jobs across the sport due to the fallout from Saban's retirement. As crazy […]
When Nick Saban retired from Alabama in January, it impacted numerous programs across college football.
Saban's retirement led to the Crimson Tide hiring Kalen DeBoer from Washington, which then led to Washington hiring Jedd Fisch from Arizona. Numerous assistant coaches also changed jobs across the sport due to the fallout from Saban's retirement.
As crazy as things were after Saban retired, it could've been even wilder.
According to ESPN's Chris Low, Alabama had two top targets to replace Saban — DeBoer and Florida State head coach Mike Norvell.
If Alabama had hired Norvell instead of DeBoer, Florida State, according to Low, would've made Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin one of their top head coaching targets.
From ESPN: In fact, in the wee hours of that Friday morning, the fear among Florida State officials was that Norvell was close to trading his FSU garnet for Alabama crimson. Sources told ESPN that Florida State was poised to move quickly if that happened and that Kiffin would be a prime candidate.
Fortunately for Ole Miss, Norvell stayed at Florida State instead of leaving for Alabama.
Of course, there's no way to know if Kiffin would've actually left Oxford for Tallahassee. The former Tennessee Vols/USC head coach seems genuinely happy at Ole Miss. I don't think it's a slam dunk that he would've strongly considered leaving the Rebels — especially after landing one of the top transfer classes in the nation this offseason.
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