Alabama National Championship odds plummet following news of Nick Saban’s retirement
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The day that Alabama fans have been dreading is finally here.
Seven-time National Championship-winning head coach Nick Saban will be retiring after 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, according to ESPN. Saban boasts an incredible 206-29 record with the Tide, and no team has been to more College Football Playoffs than Alabama.
The 72-year-old got his first head coaching opportunity at Toledo in 1990. Since then, he’s made stops at Michigan State and LSU before closing out his career with the Crimson Tide.
Saban’s absence is guaranteed to have a profound impact on Alabama’s 2024 season, and the 2025 National Championship odds are already reflecting so.
The Crimson Tide opened the day at +600 odds to win the next CFP National Championship. After word got out regarding Saban stepping away, Alabama’s odds dropped to +1000 at FanDuel Sportsbooks.
While this seems like a drastic descent, Alabama is still among the teams with the shortest odds to reclaim championship glory. Saban helped make Tuscaloosa a premier coaching destination, and the Tide are bound to get a high-level replacement.
With no coaches on Saban’s staff seeming ready to take the reins, it appears that Alabama will look externally for its next head coach. ESPN’s Pete Thamel posted this list of possible coaching hires:
- Oregon’s Dan Lanning
- Washington’s Kalen DeBoer
- Clemson’s Dabo Swinney
- Penn State’s James Franklin
- Florida State’s Mike Norvell
- Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman
Aside from finding Saban’s successor, the Crimson Tide must now deal with players exiting Tuscaloosa in the transfer portal. This is commonplace when a head coach leaves a team and could be particularly troublesome at Alabama, considering the number of elite players on the roster.
Even players who transferred in will now get a second opportunity to hit the portal, as another transfer is granted to players when their head coach exits the program. Crimson Tide players now have a 30-day window to decide whether to stay in Tuscaloosa or pursue a new opportunity elsewhere.
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