Speculation about possible candidates to replace Nick Saban immediately focused on Saban’s successful former assistants, including Steve Sarkisian, who is expected to receive a contract extension and raise at Texas.
The news coming out of Tuscaloosa Wednesday that Nick Saban has decided to retire at age 72 after winning six national titles at Alabama and one at LSU sent shockwaves across the college football landscape.
With the likelihood of Saban serving as an advisor to Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne on the Crimson Tide’s next head coach, everyone who has worked closely and successfully with Saban in the past is a possible candidate.
That list would include Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, who helped Saban win what turned out to be Saban’s sixth and final national title at Alabama in 2020.
So, of course, everyone in Longhorn Nation wants to know how close Texas is to working out a contract extension and raise for Sarkisian, who has three years left on the six-year, $34.2 million deal he signed in January 2021 with a $5 million buyout? (Sarkisian’s $5.6 million base salary was ranked 30th, according to USA Today’s college coaching salary database heading into the 2023 season.)
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte told Horns247 last week he planned to meet with Sarkisian “soon, when the time is right” to review the season.
When asked if that included talk of a contract extension and raise, Del Conte said, “Read into it what you will.” Texas fans are probably thinking right about now would be the right time for that meeting.
Sarkisian posted on social media a picture of Saban talking to Pete Carroll with the caption:
“The 2 GOAT’s! Would not be where I am today without these two men as mentors! Thank you for everything!”
How crazy is it news broke that Sarkisian’s two foremost mentors in the coaching world – Saban and Carroll, whom Sarkisian worked for at USC in the early 2000s – are both stepping down from Hall-of-Fame careers on the same day – both at age 72?
But let’s take a moment and consider why Saban is walking away right now – other than being at an age when most are hoping to enjoy retired life?
Is it possibly because Saban can go out as the SEC champion as his former assistants are now at programs in the SEC that are using NIL and the transfer portal to close the gap on the Crimson Tide?
Guys like Kirby Smart, who already has two national titles at Georgia; Sarkisian, who became the last coach to beat Saban in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 9 before reaching the College Football Playoff in 2023; and Lane Kiffin, who went 11-2 this season at Ole Miss and has loaded up in the transfer portal for a run in 2024.
Sarkisian has talked about how much he loved his time at Alabama – in 2016 as an analyst and again in 2019 and 2020 as offensive coordinator.
Sarkisian said Saban “saved my career” by offering him an analyst’s job at Alabama after Sarkisian had been fired mid-season as the head coach at USC in 2015 over alcohol-related issues.
“He gave me a chance when I had a hard time getting an interview, nevermind a job,” Sarkisian has said of Saban.
When Lane Kiffin accepted the Florida Atlantic head coaching job before Alabama’s national championship game against Clemson capping the 2016 season, Saban let Kiffin go and had Sarkisian call the offensive plays in that game.
It was thanks to Saban’s suggestion all of his assistants get an “executive physical” that an aneurism was detected in Sarkisian’s heart (stemming from a congenital defect) in the summer of 2020, leading to Sarkisian being rushed into open-heart surgery in Birmingham to save his life.
It was Saban hiring Sarkisian for a second time – as offensive coordinator in 2019 – that stuck in the minds of Del Conte, Texas president Jay Hartzell and UT regents chairman Kevin Eltife when considering Sarkisian for the Texas job.
Saban also gave those Texas leaders a glowing recommendation when they asked about Sarkisian during their search.
Saban wasn’t happy about Sarkisian hiring tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks from his Alabama staff to go to Texas. But Sarkisian and Saban have obviously remained close since Sarkisian’s departure from Tuscaloosa.
When both Texas and Alabama got into the College Football Playoff this year, Sarkisian was asked if he’d talked to Saban about it, and Sarkisian said, “No. But I’m gonna call him, because it’s pretty cool.”
Other names that immediately emerged as candidates to replace Saban included Oregon’s Dan Lanning (a GA at Alabama in 2015), Washington’s Kalen DeBoer and Florida State’s Mike Norvell.
Saban is obviously leaving the cupboard full with Jalen Milroe at quarterback and a roster ESPN ranked No. 4 in its way-too-early look ahead to the 2024 season behind No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Oregon.
But if you’re at a place entirely capable of winning a national title, such as Texas or Oregon, why would you want to be the guy following the GOAT with all the inherited expectations that permeate an Alabama fan base utterly spoiled by Saban?
We’ve all heard the saying, “Never be the guy who follows THE guy.”
Not to mention following the guy who won as many national titles at Bama as the guy the stadium is named for – Paul “Bear” Bryant (six) – and did it in a much more competitive age. In 17 years at Alabama, Saban won nine SEC championships and never lost more than two games in a season in the last 13 years (2011-23). Saban’s Alabama teams finished runner-up in the national championship game three times (2016, 2018 and 2021).
But Sarkisian, in talking about why he took the Texas job, said he doesn’t shy away from expectations.
“I understand there’s high expectations and a high standard here for winning championships,” Sarkisian said last month about Texas. “But that’s why I came here. I wasn’t naive to think that, ‘Oh, I just get to be a head coach and ho hum and win eight games and everything’s gonna be great.’ No, you’re brought here to compete for championships year-in and year-out.”
And that’s why Texas leaders should probably have that meeting about Sarkisian’s contract extension and raise right about now.
The Rebels (13-1, 0-1 SEC) are back inside the SJB Pavilion this evening and are looking to win their first SEC game of the season against the Florida Gators (10-4, 0-1 SEC). Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and can be seen on SEC Network or listened to on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
Follow along for updates, notes, facts, observations and more. To keep up to date throughout the game, either keep refreshing the webpage as the game progresses or follow along via Inside the Rebels board live thread.
The Gators are one of the league’s best offenses, averaging 86.2 points per game and shooting 47% from the floor in the process, with a guard tandem that’s rivaled Ole Miss as of late when it comes to producing on the offensive end. Walter Clayton and Zyon Pullin both average 15 points a game, with the latter also dishing out 4.8 assists on average.
In Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament Bracketology, the Gators are sitting right on the bubble as one of the last teams out of the field, although it’s still very much early. Ole Miss is a projected No. 8 seed, despite having recently came back to Oxford following a 90-64 drubbing in Knoxville.
Still, the Rebels have put themselves in a decent position thanks to one of the best starts in program history and a few quality wins for good measure. Although guard play in general has produced over the last month, Jaemyn Brakefield has found a bit of a groove as of late, having shot 66.7 percent from the field (34/51) and 57.9% from three (11/19) over the last five games, averaging 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. He had 22 points last weekend. Despite continuing to struggle on the boards, Ole Miss has been very efficient beyond the arc, shooting 40.2 percent from three. As a team, the Rebels are averaging 76.4 points per game.
2ND HALF — OLE MISS 44, FLORIDA 40 — 20:00
HALFTIME — OLE MISS 44, FLORIDA 40
After seizing control midway through the first half, the Rebels went into the locker room shooting 47% from the floor (18/38 FG) and turned the ball over just twice through 20 minutes. Despite being out-rebounded 22-18, Ole Miss won the offensive paint battle 22-14 and took advantage of 11 fast break points.
Jaemyn Brakefield led the Rebels with 14 points while Jaylen Murray, Brandon Murray and Allen Flanigan combined for 22 points offensively. Ole Miss led by as much as nine points, due to a 15-2 run after the second media timeout. Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton had the most offensive success for the Gators, with their team shooting 45% for the half.
1ST HALF — OLE MISS 44, FLORIDA 40
Moussa Cisse won the opening tip for Ole Miss to begin Wednesday’s SEC matchup. After a couple empty possessions, Will Richard hit a corner three for Florida to draw first blood, before Moussa Cisse tipped in Murrell’s shot to give Ole Miss its first points. Jaemyn Brakefield proceeded to give the Rebels their first lead after a near turnover with a step back three-pointer, but the Gators took an 8-7 lead going into the first media timeout after a couple traded buckets, 15:56 on the first half clock.
The pace picked up coming out of the the first media timeout, with multiple lead changes within the span of two minutes. Walter Clayton’s deep three-ball gave the Gators a five-point lead and put his team on a 7-0 run, that was eventually snapped by Murrell in transition entering the 12-minute mark. Going into the next media timeout, Brandon Murray’s tear-drop and block on the other end by Sharp made it an 18-16 Florida lead with 11:38 left in the first half.
JuJu Murray broke up a two-minute scoring drought with second chance lay-in to tie the game at 18 coming out of the timeout. The Rebels continued to have more success underneath with Samuel out of the game for Florida, as Allen Flanigan’s tough bucket underneath and Brakefield’s lay-in and-one put the Rebels on a 9-0 run going into the eight-minute mark. A minute later, back-to back threes by JuJu Murray kept Ole Miss’ good fortunes going, as the Rebels took a 29-20 lead with 7:21 left in the first half, Ole Miss on a 15-2 run. Walter Clayton kept his good start going with a three for Florida to cut it within four soon after the third media timeout, but Ole Miss kept said lead over the next couple minutes. Slowly but surely, the Gators cut the deficit down to two with just over a minute left in the half, but Ole Miss did just enough to take a 44-40 lead going into the locker room.
