One of the greatest eras of college football came to a close on Thursday when legendary Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban announced his intent to retire. The 72-year-old skipper won six national championships with the Tide plus a seventh with the LSU Tigers stretching over what ranks as the most impressive coaching career in Bowl Subdivision history.
Saban’s departure leaves a gaping hole in ‘Bama’s leadership circle, and as history has shown us, it is a tall order to fill when it comes to replacing the best.
Which begs some questions: How many schools have entered into the hiring pool after losing the most successful coach in program history? And what is the ensuing track record for the coaches hired to replace a legend?
USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg addressed those queries in his latest article about Saban’s retirement. In it, he included Florida football’s transition from [autotag]Steve Spurrier[/autotag] to [autotag]Ron Zook[/autotag] as an example of a failed tandem.
“Spurrier rewrote the SEC record book and turned Florida into a title-winning powerhouse before leaving for the NFL following the 2001 season,” Myerberg begins. “Zook, his immediate successor, recruited a good chunk of the roster that won the 2006 title under Urban Meyer. But his struggles were magnified by the way Spurrier had kept Florida at or near the top of the FBS throughout his 12-season run.
“Though Meyer got the job done, the program has struggled with every other hire since losing Spurrier more than 20 years ago,” he concluded.
The interesting thing about the Meyer connection is that his tenure and departure in itself was a microcosmic version of the topic at hand. After winning two championships, he was followed up by a disappointing run by Will Muschamp who went 28-21 during his three-plus years in Gainesville.
Florida fans certainly are not shedding tears for the Tide right now.
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