The Nick Saban era may be over in Alabama, but some students don't want the Dabo Swinney one to start.
Saban, the triumphant football head coach who won six of his seven national titles with the Crimson Tide, retired after a 17-year career, the school announced Wednesday.
The move left the college football world shocked, with some reminiscing Saban's career while others pondered who could potentially replace him.
One such name could be Dabo Swinney, the Clemson head coach who played at Alabama from 1990 to 1992. But not every Alabama student would want that, as there were some chanting "anyone but Dabo" in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium not long after Saban's retirement made rounds.
Swinney, a Pelham, Ala., native, became the interim Clemson head coach seven games into the 2008 season. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Alabama from 1993 to 1995 before working as a positional coach from 1996 to 2000, developing wide receivers and tight ends.
He departed to Clemson for a similar role in 2003 and worked his way up, eventually leading the Tigers to eight ACC championships and two national titles in 2016 and 2018.
NCAAF
Swinney and Saban were 2-2 in head-to-head meetings, with the two coaches swapping victories from 2016 to 2019. They played each other three times in national championships, with Swinney triumphing twice. The last one came in 2019 when Clemson routed Alabama 44-16.
The 54-year-old Swinney agreed to a 10-year, $115 million extension with the Tigers in 2022, so Alabama would have to buy him out of his contract should a deal materialize.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
