On Wednesday afternoon, legendary college football head coach Nick Saban announced his surprising retirement from the Alabama Crimson Tide after 17 seasons with the team in which he led them to six national championships. Obviously, Alabama has big shoes to fill with his replacement, but odds suggest there’s a chance they could turn to another legendary coach.
As Alabama searched for its next head coach, three-time national champion head coach Urban Meyer has been given the seventh-best odds to replace Nick Saban according to the latest odds released by BetOnline.ag.
Meyer, who has not coached in college football since 2018 after retiring from his role with the Ohio State Buckeyes, currently works for Fox as an analyst. It’s not clear whether or not he would be interested in the job, but he is one of the most proven and accomplished of any potential candidate.
Here’s a full list of the potential candidates and their BetOnline odds 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
It remains unclear who Alabama intends to pursue for the opening, but odds suggest Urban Meyer could be a legitimate candidate.