As Alabama football head coach, Nick Saban put together one of the best dynasties in college football history. After retiring following the 2023 season, many are asking if the dynasty is over.
SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum is one of the main voices leading the charge. During an appearance on ESPN's “Get Up,” Finebaum not only declared the Alabama dynasty over but claimed that it was over before Saban retired.
“We’ve seen Georgia win twice and Michigan win once since Alabama last won a national championship," Finebaum explained. "So, yes, I would declare the dynasty done. It was done before Saban left. It’s really done now that [Kalen] Deboer is there.”
After being named Alabama's head coach in 2007, Saban led the Crimson Tide to six national championships and nine SEC championships, including an SEC championship against Georgia in his final season.
While Saban was the head coach, Alabama’s longest drought without a national championship was Saban’s final three seasons as head coach. Before that, the Crimson Tide only went two years or less in between titles.
Saban will go down as not only Alabama’s greatest coach but the greatest coach in college football history. Replacing him will be no easy task for Kalen DeBoer, but the new head coach has shown that he is a proven winner everywhere that he has been. DeBoer holds a 104-12 record as head coach while leading the Washington Huskies to the championship game in which he lost to Michigan.
Despite DeBoer taking over an elite roster, better than he has ever had as a head coach, Finebaum still believes DeBoer and the Crimson Tide are not good enough to win a championship in his inaugural year.
“I don’t think this team is good enough,” Finebaum said in a previous appearance on “Get Up.” "Nick Saban himself told you a couple weeks ago one of their deficiencies is in the defensive secondary. That’s on him, that’s what he used to coach, and he lost his best player, or Kalen DeBoer did, to Ohio State in Caleb Downs.”
Alabama lost 33 players to the transfer portal after Saban's departure. It also inherits one of the toughest schedules for the upcoming football year.
“So, I think they’re challenged, I think the schedule is overwhelming, I think they could make the playoffs, but they are not going to win the national championship without Nick Saban. Not yet, at least," Finebaum declared. "The team is very good, but they’re missing some key elements and that’s what happened when Nick Saban left. They lost two or three incredible players and I think [that] could be the difference between making the playoffs and winning the playoffs. Ultimately, Kalen DeBoer is good enough to win at all, but not this year.”
The DeBoer era will begin Saturday, August 31 at 6 p.m. CT when the Crimson Tide host Western Kentucky.
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