Nick Saban’s highly successful 17-year tenure atop the Alabama football program came to an end on Thursday when he retired as the Crimson Tide’s head coach.
With Saban stepping down, the attention turns to who will replace him and become the 28th head coach in Alabama football history. Let’s take a look at who the betting favorites to replace Saban according to Sports Betting Dime.
Oregon’s Dan Lanning is the odds on betting favorite coming in at +200 followed by Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin (+350), Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (+400), Washington’s Kaleb DeBoer (+500), Texas’ Steve Sarkisian (+750) and Florida State’s Mike Norvell (+900).
While there are no currently on staff candidates on Alabama’s staff, Saban’s vast coaching tree means a number of top coaches have ties to the Crimson Tide.
More From RTI: Vol Fans Will Always Cherish Nick Saban’s Final Game At Neyland Stadium
Lanning was a GA at Alabama for a year, Kiffin and Sarkisian each spent time as Alabama’s offensive coordinator under Saban and Swinney played for the Crimson Tide in the early ’90s.
There is one former Tennessee head coach who is on the betting odds to replace Saban— Derek Dooley who comes in at +1500 and has the ninth best odds. Dooley, who had a terrible three-year head coaching stint at Tennessee, coached under Saban at LSU and was an off the field coach for the Crimson Tide the last two years.
Dooley has not been a head coach in his years since leaving Tennessee, spending most of them as an NFL assistant coach but also having a brief stint as the offensive coordinator at Missouri.
Other names of interest on the betting odds include Urban Meyer (+1400), Billy Napier (+1500), Deion Sanders (+1700) and Mike Vrabel (+4000)
Alabama travels to Knoxville to face Josh Heupel’s fourth Tennessee team on Oct. 19.
