Auburn football fans were among the many happy people that took to Twitter to respond to Jake Crain’s (of Crain & Company) take that the Alabama Crimson Tide will replace long-time head coach Nick Saban with offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.
I will say this again. Bill O’Brien will be the next head coach at Alabama. @ClintRLamb @NextRoundLive
— Jake “JBOY” Crain (@JakeCrain_) July 18, 2022
Saban has been the Tide HC since 2007 and has collected six national championships since touching down in Tuscaloosa — though many recognize his 2017 title as a shared one with the UCF Knights, who defeated Auburn football in that year’s Peach Bowl after an undefeated season.
Having crossed the plane into his 70s, Saban may want to retire soon after solidifying the legacy of the Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff era. His offensive coordinator O’Brien spent more than half a decade as a HC in the NFL and is engineering a solid offense that is needing to cover for an Alabama defense that seemingly lost a step last year.
Dabo Swinney is a name that was often linked by Crimson Tide fans, but that’d be borderline sacrilege to do after the wars Clemson and Alabama had throughout the last half of the 2010s.
Tiger fans shared their liking of the idea of O’Brien being the next HC instead:
As an Auburn fan living in Houston with the Texans ….. I’m in favor of that.
— Michael Harney (@AUWarEagle) July 18, 2022
lol Good
— medicinf314AU (@medicinf314) July 18, 2022
Would make a ton of sense. I don't see Swinney leaving unless he has a losing season and then would alabama even want him?
— Brandon 🅿️otter WDE🐯🦅🥶❄️ (@9377_potter) July 18, 2022
This Bayou Bengal fan was in agreement:
— Robbie White 🏌🏻 (@RobbieWhiteLSU) July 18, 2022
There are now concrete rumors of Saban looking to call it a career, but he does have a ‘get off my lawn’ approach in his comments regarding the newly implemented NIL laws. Perhaps college football’s winds of change will blow him away and into retirement.