Alabama Makes Big Nick Saban Announcement after Call Mounts to Blame Him for Debacle

Remember what Alabama AD Greg Byrne said on the Hey Coach radio show mid August? He talked about honoring the past. He was weaving together decades of Alabama tradition with Bob Baumhower’s legacy, honoring champions gone by. “That is something we will continue to focus on is celebrating our history,” he said. And naturally, he couldn’t resist dropping a Nick Saban nugget. Because a Bama celebration without the GOAT is like Bryant-Denny without Rammer Jammer. 

During his August 13 talk, Greg Byrne said, “Coach Saban’s going to be able to be part of a celebration this year, too, for one of his teams.” That single tease was enough to get Tuscaloosa buzzing. And the time has come to let the celebration go wild. On September 4, Alabama Athletics officially announced the party plans on X. “We’re celebrating 100 Years of National Championships on Saturday! Stop by Champions Lane before the game to grab a commemorative @AlabamaFTBL poster,” it wrote. A full-throttle Crimson Tide heritage is about to hit campus. So what exactly is on tap?

On September 6, when Alabama hosts ULM, Bryant-Denny will double as a living museum. The Paul W. Bryant Museum is unveiling Walking with Champions, a sweeping new exhibit that stitches together artifacts, trophies, and inside stories from every title-winning team across the century. Fans won’t just see dusty jerseys but they’ll walk through the DNA of Alabama dominance. But the centerpiece of the day will be a reunion of the 2015 team, Nick Saban’s first champion of the Playoff era. 

That year, Derrick Henry bulldozed his way to a Heisman, Alabama’s first RB to hoist the stiff-armed trophy since Mark Ingram. The Tide beat Michigan State into submission in the Cotton Bowl, then topped Clemson in a title game that launched the modern Alabama-Clemson rivalry. And the coaching roster was a future SEC media day panel. Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Kirby Smart (Georgia), Mario Cristobal (Miami), Billy Napier (Florida), Mel Tucker (formerly Michigan State), and Scott Cochran (now head coach at West Alabama) all punched their cards under Nick Saban that year. 

Fast forward a decade, and now those same names carry weight across the sport. That’s why this celebration matters because it isn’t just about raising banners. It’s about showing how one team shaped the future of college football. Seeing Derrick Henry, Marlon Humphrey, Jonathan Allen, O.J. Howard, and Kenyan Drake back in Tuscaloosa alongside Nick Saban himself is a reminder of just how deep his legacy runs. But while Alabama rolls out the crimson carpet for their former HC, the current team is dealing with a storm he left behind.

Nick Saban takes the blame game in Tuscaloosa 

A different narrative is boiling under the surface in Tuscaloosa. Alabama is in chaos, and the fanbase is questioning whether Kalen DeBoer is the right guy to lead the program after a mid 9-4 season last year and a 31-17 season opener loss to Florida State. Replacing the GOAT was always going to be a nightmare, but now the hot-seat chatter is real. Some fans and columnists have even pointed the finger back at Nick Saban himself. 

Nicholas Rome of Saturday Blitz argued that Alabama’s struggles stem from not having a coach-in-waiting. Josh Pate posted a screenshot of a fan’s comment that read, “And plus this is Nick Saban’s fault he left Alabama without a 2 weeks notice.” The CBS analyst captioned it, “Best theory I’ve seen all week.” It’s almost sacrilege to fault Nick Saban for anything in Tuscaloosa, but one fair critique is this. He didn’t groom a clear successor. Programs like Florida State with Jimbo Fisher, or Ohio State with Ryan Day, avoided chaos by naming an heir apparent. Alabama went outside the family, hiring Kalen DeBoer.

Now, Alabama is learning the hard truth. No matter how many titles you hang in the museum, following a legend is the toughest job in college football. And whether you blame Kalen DeBoer or fault Nick Saban for not leaving a plan, the Tide’s reality is simple. You don’t replace the GOAT, you just survive the fallout.