2024:\u00a0 The GOAT<\/h3>\n
No need to rehash Saban’s accomplishments here.\u00a0 They’re fused within our memory banks, and the sports world has been talking about them the past few days since the announcement dropped.\u00a0 DeBoer will be discussed and scrutinized ad nauseam now that he’s accepted the challenge of replacing him.\u00a0 It’s not every day that a legend retires, so let’s examine how other football programs went about finding their replacements and how it turned out.<\/p>\n
Not every legend walks away from a team that\u2019s still firing on all cylinders.\u00a0 Alabama had a 27-2-7 record in Bryant\u2019s final three seasons and 8-4 in his final campaign.\u00a0 On the other hand, the Tide was 36-6 under Saban from 2021 until now and the cupboard is fully stocked.\u00a0 As history has shown, keeping the mojo intact is going to be a huge undertaking.\u00a0 Within the wonderful world of major college football, there exists a wasteland of broken dreams and humbled egos belonging to those who dared step into the shadows of the greatest coaches who ever lived.\u00a0 And then there are those rare occasions when the legend passed the torch to a worthy successor, and the machine kept rolling.<\/p>\n
2014:\u00a0 Coach February<\/h3>\n
Mack Brown<\/strong> didn\u2019t waste any time putting the Texas Longhorns back on the map.\u00a0 It was an uphill battle long in the making.\u00a0 He took charge of a moribund program in 1998 and led the team to a 9-3 record in his first season.\u00a0 It was a sign of things to come for a team that was 4-7 the year before, and a fan base still reminiscing about the good old days under Darrell Royal.\u00a0 Brown delivered the goods, winning at least nine games every year in his first 12 seasons including a national title in 2005.\u00a0 He earned the nickname \u201cCoach February\u201d by being one of the nation\u2019s best recruiters during that time.\u00a0 It abruptly came to an end.\u00a0 After the 2009 season and a loss to Alabama in the National Championship Game, Texas staggered its way through a 30-21 stretch from 2010 to 2013 and he resigned.<\/p>\n Texas finished 9-4 and 8-5 in Brown\u2019s final two seasons in 2012 and 2013, and fans wondered if it could get any worse.\u00a0 Then Charlie Strong<\/strong> came along and proved that it could.\u00a0 He was hired after leading a resurgence at Louisville during his four years there.\u00a0 Strong was a disciplinarian who sent players packing when they got themselves into legal trouble or violated team rules.\u00a0 He was also undermined, both publicly and privately, by some of the program\u2019s biggest boosters.\u00a0 His stint at Texas started in 2014 with a 6-7 record and it got worse from there.\u00a0 The Longhorns posted consecutive records of 5-7 in 2015 and 2016 before Texas fired him.<\/p>\n Bobby Bowden<\/strong> turned Florida State into a powerhouse in the 1990s. \u00a0The Seminoles claimed national titles in 1993 and 1999.\u00a0 They won at least 10 games each season that decade and always ranked in the top five when the final polls were released every year.\u00a0 Bowden won 304 games over 34 seasons at FSU.\u00a0 His coaching tree includes Jimbo Fisher, Kirby Smart, Manny Diaz, Terry Bowden, and Mark Richt.\u00a0 It was an unrealistically high standard that could not be duplicated in the decade that followed.\u00a0 Bowden coached the Seminoles for the final time in 2009.<\/p>\n Jimbo Fisher<\/strong> had been waiting to take over the FSU program since being named Bowden\u2019s successor after the 2007 season, Fisher\u2019s first year as offensive coordinator.\u00a0 Unlike the situation in Alabama today, Florida State faced a more formidable uphill battle.\u00a0 The Seminoles were no longer at the top of the food chain when Fisher took over.\u00a0 Fisher rebuilt the program and won his first four bowl games, including the BCS National Championship to finish the 2013 season with a 14-0 record. \u00a0The Seminoles went undefeated during the regular season in 2014 but were humiliated 59-20 by Oregon in the Rose Bowl.\u00a0 A pair of 10-3 seasons followed in 2015 and 2016, but FSU stumbled to 5-6 in his final season before Fisher parlayed his success into a mega contract that will live in Texas A&M infamy.<\/p>\n LaVell Edwards<\/strong> was a pioneer who put BYU football on the map.\u00a0 He was an assistant for 10 years before taking over as head coach in 1972.\u00a0 In an era dominated by the rushing game, he oriented the Cougars and college football toward throwing the ball.\u00a0 Edwards developed outstanding quarterbacks during his 29 years as head coach.\u00a0 Along the way, he won a national championship in 1984 and 18 WAC titles overall.\u00a0 Job offers from NFL and college teams flowed Edwards\u2019 way after the \u201984 title, but he stayed in Provo and retired after the 2000 season.\u00a0 BYU was 6-6 in his last season.<\/p>\n Gary Crowton<\/strong> was hired as LaVell\u2019s replacement.\u00a0 The former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator was born in Orem, Utah.\u00a0 He knew the uphill battle he was getting himself into.\u00a0 Just to be sure, BYU renamed its stadium after Edwards.\u00a0 Other than a three-year stint at Louisiana Tech, Crowton had no head coaching experience.\u00a0 He surprised everyone during his first season with BYU in 2001, leading the Cougars to a 12-2 record.\u00a0 But the program floundered from there, going 14-21 over the next three years.\u00a0 Crowton was forced to resign after the 2004 season.\u00a0 He went on to make a name for himself as one of the best offensive coordinators of his time during stints at Oregon and LSU.<\/p>\n The story of Tom Osborne<\/strong> would make a great villain arc.\u00a0 He was a small-town boy from Nebraska with a failed NFL career who started coaching as an unpaid assistant in 1962.\u00a0 He became offensive coordinator seven years later and installed his system.\u00a0 Upon taking over as head coach in 1973, he unleashed a 25-year reign of terror that even Nick Saban couldn\u2019t match. \u00a0Osborne leads all FBS coaches with a .836 win percentage (minimum 200 wins).\u00a0 Osborne coached the Nebraska juggernaut until his final season in 1997.<\/p>\n2010:\u00a0 The Legend of Bobby<\/h3>\n
2001:\u00a0 The Mountain Man<\/h3>\n
1998:\u00a0 The King of Omaha<\/h3>\n
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