In a new era of college football when players can leave with great haste upon a coaching change. Alabama and athletics director Greg Byrne are moving swiftly to find the program's replacement for the irreplaceable Nick Saban.
What's the latest in Tuscaloosa?
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that today has been an incredibly active day in the Crimson Tide's ongoing search; Byrne has told the program and others within the athletics department that he intends to name Saban's replacement by the end of this week.
Among those emerging as serious contenders along the lines of earning interviews: Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, Florida State coach Mike Norvell and incumbent Tide offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
Additionally, prominent figures in the world of sports -- including CAA's Jimmy Sexton and top-tier representatives from Excel Sports -- are in Tuscaloosa today.
Two other names with some measure of traction in the search: former Broyles Award-winning Alabama assistant coach Mike Locksley and current Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz, per sources in upper levels of college athletics administration.
Locksley has garnered significant support from former players, FootballScoop is told, and he also is believed to have key support from at least one prominent Alabama mega-booster as well as top former Tide assistants.
As for DeBoer, his Southern-most experience is at Midwest Big Ten program Indiana, but he's an undeniable winner on the heels of a remarkable, record-setting run at Washington that's just completed with a runner-up finish against controversial title-winner Michigan in the College Football Playoff.
DeBoer owns a lifetime 104-12 record as a collegiate head coach, including 37-9 in his last five seasons rebuilding Fresno State and Washington. He also helped coach star quarterback Michael Penix to an runner-up Heisman Trophy finish.
Norvell also is coming off the best season of his collegiate coaching career, guiding Florida State to an 13-1 record in 2023 and narrowly missing a CFP berth after an season-ending injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis.
Norvell is 69-32 as an NCAA Football Bowls Subdivision head coach, including 21-4 in his last 25 games atop the Seminoles program.
Just 31, Rees is the youngest among the Tide candidates. He's also a former Broyles Award finalist, an ex-Notre Dame quarterback and long considered among the sharpest young offensive minds in football. His father, Bill, is a legendary collegiate and NFL personnel expert.
Rees owns NFL experience, and he's burnished his coaching chops with offensive coordinator stops at two of the most high-profile spots in all of football: his alma mater, Notre Dame, from 2020-22, and this past season at Alabama. He helped Jalen Milroe engineer a remarkable turnaround at quarterback for the Tide, which upended Georgia in the SEC Championship and took Michigan to overtime in the CFP before losing to the top-seeded Wolverines.
Locksley's career turned around with his time under Saban as Alabama offensive coordinator. He helped the Tide to a national championship, won the aforementioned Broyles Award and also tutored several award-winners for the 'Bama offense, including eventual Heisman Trophy-winning wideout DeVonta Smith.
Locksley's guided Maryland to 23 wins in its past three seasons, the program's most successful stretch since the mid-2000s. His Terps just blasted Auburn in the Music City Bowl.
Drinkwitz turned a phenomenal 12-win campaign at Appalachian State in his first year as a head coach into the Missouri job. The past two years have represented a wholesale turnaround in Columbia, Missouri.
The Tigers own four-straight bowl appearances under Drinkwitz, and their 2023 11-win campaign was the program's best mark in a decade. They suffocated favored Ohio State, 14-3, in the Cotton Bowl to cap their season.
In five seasons as a head coach, Drinkwitz owns a pair of double-digit win campaigns.
Other names associated with the Alabama search but seeming, at this point, to lack much traction whatsoever include Ole Miss coach and former Tide title-winning offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, former Bama OC and current Texas leader Steve Sarkisian and Clemson's Dabo Swinney, the former Alabama player with multiple national titles at Clemson.