Nick Saban Retires, Pressure Turns To Longhorns' Chris Del Conte & Steve Sarkisian Extension
Chris Del Conte better be ready to hand Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian a lofty check in the coming days.
If he doesn't, perhaps Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne will.
Nick Saban dropped an atom bomb on the world of college football Wednesday afternoon with his impromptu decision to retire following the Crimson Tide's loss to Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
He leaves the dyansty he forged after 201 wins, nine Southeastern Conference titles, eight College Football Playoff appearances and six national titles in 17 seasons.
Byrne, who's seven years into his tenure as the Crimson Tide's AD, has never had to make a career-defining hire. Times are changing in college football entering 2024, where 12 teams will plant their flag and fight to the death on a course to claim a title.
Where two new teams — staples of the game — will join the SEC, thus adding to the persona of the "It Just Means More" mantra.
Where NIL and the transfer portal never sleep, and proven names depart their programs after record-shattering seasons to join the highest bidder.
And change is coming to Title Town for the first time since 2007.
Does that change involve Sarkisian?
Current Texas coach Steve Sarkisian -- serving as Alabama's offensive coordinator -- and head coach Nick Saban against Duke in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday August 31, 2019.
Mickey Welsh / Advertiser-Imagn Content Services, LLC
There's a working relationship between Sarkisian and Byrne, as the two spent time together while the third-year Longhorns coach worked under Saban as the Crimson Tide's offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.
Results are a love language at a place like Alabama and few have the resume of Sarkisian. During his two seasons as the play-caller, he guided the Tide as the No. 3 (2019) and No. 2 (2020) scoring offenses in college football. He helped receiver DeVonta Smith become the first receiver in over two decades to win the Heisman and turned Mac Jones from a game-manager into a Davey O'Brien winner.
Production carries past his time in Tuscaloosa. Sarkisian revitalized life on the Forty Acres for the first time in ages. He turned the Longhorns from a run-of-the-mill Big 12 program into a legit national title threat within three seasons.
Sarkisian not only raised the level of recruiting prowess, but also the quality of talent departing the school for their next stage. Three players — if not more — could hear their names called in the first round of April's NFL Draft.
Oh, and he's also one of three former assistants — and the latest — to take down the seven-time champion. Unlike Jimbo Fisher and Kirby Smart, Sarkisian bested him on his home turf.
Does Byrne think he could duplicate that success away from Austin? Texas is an emphatic job, especially with the deep pockets of boosters ready to spend in the Texas One Fund each offseason.
But there's only one Alabama.
There's only one Walk of Championship.
There's only one Bryant-Denny Stadium shaking in the fourth quarter on Saturday nights to the sounds of hundreds of thousands proclaiming their disdain for Auburn ... and LSU ... and Tennessee too.
And yes, the funds from the faithful boosters will flow through University Blvd like a river of green.
Sarkisian, who still has three years left on his contract, makes $5.6 million annually. That ranks 30th in the country on the list of head football coaches' salaries and would be bottom-five among coaches in the SEC.
Del Conte was going to have to up the salary anyway after Texas secured its first conference title since 2009. Even with a loss to Washington in the Sugar Bowl, the Longhorns finished with 12 wins for the first time since the Mack Brown era.
It took two failed coaching experiments and eight seasons to get back on track at DKR. Now built to win in the SEC, Del Conte is going to let Sarkisian walk across to the enemy sidelines?
While most of the college football world is celebrating, like the Munchkins proclaiming how the Wicked Witch of the Southeast is dead, several programs are fancily going through their funds to come up with a package to keep their coach happy.
Oregon is feeling the heat.
Ole Miss is sitting on pins and needles.
Notre Dame, Florida State, Washington, and even Clemson are all stuck in the same boat, wondering if a 205-area code rings, will their commander and chief be headed elsewhere.
Texas falls in that category, too. It's a great job; one more would call it a dream location. Maybe it's Sarkisian's final stop before he begins a new chapter of life that doesn't involve coaching.
But money talks. It speaks volumes in a place like Alabama.
It can be silenced with the same language spoken in Austin between conversations with Del Conte and Sarkisian.
And it better happen fast.
