Paul Finebaum Suggests Tim Tebow Played a Role in Nick Saban Coming to Alabama

Nick Saban’s run at Alabama is among the greatest of all time and includes six national championships in a 12-year span. Yet, Paul Finebaum thinks former Florida Heisman winner Tim Tebow is responsible for the entire run.

Tebow almost attended Alabama but chose to go to Florida instead in what he described as a “last-second decision.” According to Finebaum, the decision by Tebow to choose the Gators changed the course of college football history.

“Not to make you larger than life, although you are, had you decided to come to the University of Alabama, Nick Saban wouldn’t be here because Mike Shula would have done much better than he did,” Finebaum said. “Saban would have eventually gone somewhere else.”

Shula, the former coach of the Crimson Tide, spent parts of four seasons with Alabama, but was fired in 2006 after a disappointing year. That was around the same time that Saban, who was in his second year as the coach of the NFL’s Dolphins, was willing to jump back to college for the right opportunity,

Had Shula successfully recruited Tebow in 2006, he may have lasted a few years longer, meaning Saban would’ve had to either wait for the Alabama job to open or choose to take another collegiate opening.