Potential USF Football Coaching Candidates: Nick Saban (For One Year)

In every coaching search, there’s always somebody suggesting ridiculous candidates for the job. Instead of waiting for those wack ideas to come to us, we’re being proactive and bringing our wack ideas to you.

Nick Saban (current job: head coach, Alabama)

Let’s be clear about this idea. We are not proposing that Nick Saban become USF’s coach permanently. That’s just insane. But for 2017 and only 2017? We think it has potential.

Next year was going to be the culmination year for Willie Taggart. He would finally have a roster full of his own recruits, and guys like Quinton Flowers, Marlon Mack, D’Ernest Johnson, Auggie Sanchez, and Deatrick Nichols would all be seniors. Even though Taggart decided to move on, he is leaving behind an immensely talented and experienced team that’s ready to win big.

Meanwhile, Saban has to be bored off his ass at Alabama. He has the best of everything and no one out there can touch the Tide. They’re probably going to win yet another national title, their fifth since 2009. He’s clearly one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football.

Isn’t this all kind of easy, though? Saban is surrounded by blue-chip high school talent, coaching at a university that may actually care more about football than education. The advantages to coaching at Bama are so great that some people may still question his greatness. They might say that lots of coaches could go to a place like Bama and do as well as he has.

So to quote a former athletic director who would have never thought of something like this, why not USF? We’re proposing that Nick Saban come to Tampa for one year and see if he can win a national title with this Bulls team in 2017. If he can do that, no one will ever doubt him again. And after the year is up, Saban can go back to Alabama and coach out the rest of his days, secure in the knowledge that he’s the unquestioned GOAT, now and forever.

Money? That could be a problem. Saban makes a whole bunch of it, much more than USF can afford. And Jimmy Sexton isn’t going to let one of his clients go slumming for a mere million-five. That won’t even pay his lawn service bill. But since we know this is a one-year deal, let’s milk it for all it’s worth.

Of course, ESPN would be falling all over themselves to help upgrade USF’s schedule with lucrative non-conference games. That’s only the beginning, though. Certainly ESPN or HBO or some network would be interested in a behind-the-scenes, all-access documentary about this most unusual season. What college football fan wouldn’t watch the hell out of a show about a man stepping down to a talented but unproven program in a one-time bid to prove that he is the greatest football coach who ever lived? How many season tickets would this sell? How much merchandise? How many donations? We could give Saban a generous cut of the proceeds so that his total compensation is in the ballpark of what Alabama pays him every year.

Now, there are a lot of other minor details to work out, like Little Debbie allowances and who’s going to coach Bama while he’s gone. But this can absoutely work. Have your people call our people, Nick. We’ll see you in January.