Steve Sarkisian’s Odds of Landing Alabama Job Skyrocket After Opening Up at 35/1
The college football world was shaken to its core on Wednesday after it learned that Alabama head coach Nick Saban was retiring after 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide.
Now 72 years old, Saban returned the Tide to prominence after taking over the program in 2007, leading them to six national championships and nine SEC titles during his tenure in Tuscaloosa.
With age and health concerns being the reason for his retirement, Saban can now enjoy the retirement that he probably earned about a decade ago, but his exit from the sideline in Bryant-Denny Stadium will begin the biggest coaching search that this sport has seen in recent memory.
The Alabama job is perhaps the one vacancy in college football that means nobody is safe. If the Crimson Tide’s administration comes calling, any coach in the country would obligated to pick up the phone and at least hear an offer.
That includes even coaches at programs like Texas, which most would argue is a place that doesn’t lose its head coach unless it chooses to. Well, when the Tide comes rolling into town, perhaps that’s no longer the case.
Longhorns’ head coach Steve Sarkisian opened up with the 17th-best odds to land at Alabama, at 35/1 (+3500). However, over the last several hours we’ve seen some changes to the landscape for this coaching search and Dan Lanning is no longer in the running (according to his Twitter account).
With that, the candidate list is being whittled down and Sarkisian’s odds have shot up to +175, making him the third-most likely coach to succeed Saban according to BetOnline.
Washington’s Kalen DeBoer and Florida State’s Mike Norvell are the only two names listed above Sarkisian at this time, which means this is starting to get very interesting for the Longhorns.
Meanwhile, Deion Sanders, who had the fourth-best odds at the opening is now well down the list of suitors, falling from 6/1 (+600) odds to 66/1 (+6600) odds.
My how things change in a day.
