Ripple Tide: Nick Saban Retirement From Bama Causes 3rd Head Coach Hire In 6 Days With Another On The Way, And Maybe Another

It started last Wednesday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

It moved 2,424 miles northwest to Seattle on Friday.

By Sunday, it dropped 1,525 miles almost due south to Tucson, Arizona.

And on Tuesday, it reversed itself 822 miles nearly due north to San Jose, California.

Call this the Nick Saban Storm ripple effect.

Saban Decision Ripples From Seattle To Tucson To San Jose

Saban retired Wednesday at Alabama. Two days later, Alabama hired Washington coach Kalen DeBoer.

Two days later, Washington hired Arizona coach Jedd Fisch. And, yes, two days later on Tuesday, Arizona hired San Jose State coach Brent Brennan.

If you count South Alabama losing head coach Kane Wommack to the defensive coordinator position at Alabama on Monday night, that is five head coach openings in college football in six days all because of Saban's retirement - Alabama, Washington, Arizona, South Alabama and San Jose State.

Get ready for another chain reaction hire should San Jose State in turn hire another sitting college head coach.

San Jose State Could Break Chain By Not Hiring Head Coach

San Jose State, though, is considering two current members of its football staff. Those are running backs coach Alonzo Carter and receivers coach Eric Scott. Two other candidates are UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion and UCLA tight ends coach Ken Niumatalolo. If San Jose State hires any of those, that will at least break the chain of departing head coaches.

This naturally happens just about every year with coaches getting fired at alarming rates every season. But what is amazing about the last week since Nick Saban, 72, hung up his headphones after 17 seasons at Alabama is the speed. Programs contacted prospective coaches previously identified, interviewed them and hired them just like that.

Call it the NCAA Coaching Portal. This past week, it was right out of the Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track in Utah.

It used to take college athletic directors a week at least to get it all done, maybe two weeks.

"It's critical that you move fast," Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said Saturday after DeBoer was introduced in front of media and fans in a Bryant-Denny Stadium fifth-floor suite. "We had an entire plan to the hour of what we were going to do."

Because not only are athletic directors trying to find the next coach to lead them to the Promised Land. They're trying to do it by yesterday to save a massive players' exit to the NCAA Transfer Portal. That's what happened at Washington within hours after the news of DeBoer going to Alabama hit on Friday.

As soon as a coach retires, gets another job or is fired during a closed window on the NCAA Transfer Portal schedule, a special 30-day window opens to transfer for those players without a coach. The last regular portal window closed on Jan. 2. The next does not open until April 16. But lose your coach, and it's open season for travel.

Alabama AD Greg Byrne Prepared For Nick Saban Storm

"You have to (hire quickly)," Byrne said. "You don't have a choice. Knowing the rule now, as soon as a coach leaves, players have a 30-day window immediately to transfer. You have the pressure of that going on, so that's why I felt such a responsibility to be as prepared as you possibly can be."

It's much more than an athletic director just having a list of potential coaches in the top drawer of his desk. He has to have an emergency plan as if a hurricane is on the way, or a tsunami.

The scary thing is that haste can make waste. Hurried decisions can lead to disaster. Yeah, you saved a recruiting class or kept a bunch of players from entering the portal, but did you really take the time to make the right hire?

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne's two-minute offense hired a new coach in Washington's Kalen DeBoer last week two days after Nick Saban retired. (Getty Images)

This is why Byrne is always prepared, always watching coaches, just in case. Even if he has the greatest one ever.

"That was critical in the process," he said. "Because you had to be on G waiting for O."

Will Kalen DeBoer Be The Guy, Or Did Alabama Act Too Fast?

Byrne, 52, grew up as an athletic director's son. Bill Byrne worked as an athletic director in much slower and simpler times at Oregon (1984-92), Nebraska (1992-2002) and at Texas A&M (2003-12). Still, Greg learned something very valuable from his father.

Always be closing, advises the salesman.

Always be hiring, advises the athletic director.

"He said, 'Son, watch coaches coach. Watch the kids interact with the coaches. Watch the relationships they have. Watch body language. Watch how they go about their approach,'" Greg Byrne said.

When Byrne became Alabama's athletic director in 2017, Nick Saban was 65. He knew, sooner or later, he'd have to replace him.

Greg Byrne Knew He'd Have To Replace Saban For Seven Years

"When I saw Kalen DeBoer making a difference at Fresno State (2021-22), he got on my radar screen," Byrne said. "Not thinking that he would necessarily be it, but I'm constantly watching coaches."

He may be able to relax now, but not for long, if De Boer ends up not being De Man.

Then the ripple effect will happen all over again as it did last Wednesday.

And we have not even started counting the assistant coaches' turnover tsunami yet.