Barnhouse: You never want to follow a legend

The latest guest column from our esteemed college sports historian.

NOTE FROM BOB: Wendell is back again! Time for another guest piece from our SturmStack subscriber and longtime journalist for the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Wendell Barnhouse. Love to get his views on whatever he would love to share and Saban got his wheels turning. I hope you enjoy:

This piece was updated 1/13.

By Wendell Barnhouse

There’s an axiom about the college coaching business.

Don’t be the guy to follow the departed legend. Be the guy that replaces the guy that failed following the departed legend.

There is no bigger legend than the one that Nick Saban built in his 17 seasons at Alabama. The numbers and the records could rival Taylor Swift’s playlist. Filling his shoes will require Paul Bunyan-sized feet.

We’ll now discover Kalen DeBoer’s shoe size. Two days after the job opened, it was filled when Alabama hired Washington’s coach – five days after his Huskies were rolled by Michigan in the national championship game. 

In Dutch, “DeBoer” translates to “the farmer.” About 50 years ago, radio legend Paul Harvey made a speech to the Future Farmers of America it began, “And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker" – so God made a farmer.”

Godspeed, Kalen. 

DeBoer was the best Bama could do because there was no “good hire” to be made. All the usual suspects didn’t engage in any contract-enhancing dancing, apparently answering any calls from Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne with a “no thanks, I’m good.” DeBoer has won three national championships – at the NAIA level. He apparently believes in himself, his coaching ability and that he’s up to the challenge. Pride (and often, ego) goeth before the fall.

As Joel Klatt accurately stated on The Hardline on the day Saban announced his retirement: “Nick Saban is the greatest coach in college football history.” That is not hyperbole.

Between 2009 and 2020, he won six national championships. (In 2003, he helped LSU revive its program, winning his first national title and giving him a total of seven.) With the Crimson Tide, he was 9-1 in SEC Championship games during a time when the SEC was widely regarded as the nation’s best.

Saban became The Man in Tuscaloosa. That honor was previously held by Paul “Bear” Bryant. He retired after the 1982 season. Saban, proving timing is everything, debuted at Alabama in 2007. 

In the 25 seasons after Bear, the Crimson Tide epitomized “wandering in the wilderness.” Six coaches (about one every four years) failed – although Gene Stallings went 13-0 and won a national championship in 1992.

Saban matched Bryant’s six national championships (won over an 18-year period, 1961-1979). But Saban coached during a time when television contracts, conference realignment, a post-season playoff made college football a Saturday challenger to King NFL’s Sunday dominance.

So, yeah… Nick Saban… tough act to follow.

Much of Saban’s angst over the last few years was the high bar expectations of Roll Tide fans. By winning a title nearly every other season, a non-title season was, of course, expected to be followed by a confetti blizzard celebrating crimson privilege. If any coach was aware of how damn tough it is to keep climbing Mt. Olympus, it was Nick Saban.

Fans don’t fire coaches, wins and losses do. But the fact is that whoever takes the Alabama job, he won’t be able to win enough national titles to satisfy the Tide faithful. A 10-2 regular-season record and a loss in the CFP semifinals would thrill 99 percent of the sports fan bases. But at Alabama, it will be “Nick woulda won it all.”

The axiom mentioned in the first sentence is by no means a lab-tested formula. There are coaches who have been successful “second acts.” While Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer probably aren’t “legends,” Lincoln Riley and Ryan Day were and are successful at Oklahoma and Ohio State. And while it’s a small sample size, in his second season, Jon Scheyer hasn’t face planted as Mike Krzyzewski’s successor as Duke’s basketball coach. But in another five years? (Blue Devils fans: “So, Jon: about those national titles; when can expect another one?”)

Perhaps the greatest example of “don’t take that job” happened at UCLA after John Wooden retired. The Wizard of Westwood went out with his 10th and final national championship in 1975. At the time, he was the Nick Saban of college basketball.

The Bruins hired Gene Bartow. He coached at Memphis four seasons – the Tigers reached the national title game in 1973, losing to (who else?) UCLA – and had gone 8-18 in his first and only season at Illinois. Bartow was nice man, an unassuming fellow, born in Missouri. Coaching UCLA, in Tinsel Town – he was a brown shoes matched with a tuxedo. Still, he went 27-5 (making the Final Four) and 24-5 in his first two seasons following The Wizard… and he was fired.

It's worth noting that in the nearly half century since Wooden’s retirement, UCLA has employed 10 coaches – the same number of titles won by Wooden. The Bruins have reached five Final Fours and won just one national title.

Reviewing the history of replacing legends in college football, here are some examples of the degree of difficulty:

·      Ohio State, Woody Hayes. In 28 years, before his career ended when he went HAM on an opposing player’s helmet, Hayes won 76 percent of his games. He was replaced by Earle Bruce, who won 75 percent of his games over nine seasons and was dismissed because he wasn’t Woody.

·      Nebraska, Tom Osborne. Osborne is Woody Hayes without the right cross. He retired after the 1997 season with five national championships. In 25 seasons, he had 307 victories and a winning percentage of .836. Nebraska promoted long-time assistant Frank Solich, who lasted six seasons, winning 75 percent of his games. Not Tom, not good enough.

·      Penn State, Joe Paterno. A scandal he helped cover up ended JoePa’s time with the Nittany Lions in 2011. Bill O’Brien was 15-9 in two seasons before being replaced by current coach James Franklin. In five of 10 seasons he has double-digit victory seasons. And Penn State fans would happily help him pack if he found another gig.

·      Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer. Beamer was Virginia Tech when he retired in 2015 and in some ways still is. Justin Fuente was fine, just fine going 74-43 in six seasons in Blacksburg. He was fired after the 2021 season. This last season he was a football analyst at noted football powerhouse Indiana. Ouch.

There is one example of a coach replacing a legend who survived and thrived. Bobby Bowden, much like Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, was a one-man construction crew in Tallahassee. He built Florida State into a national power, winning 315 games and two nattys in 34 seasons.

Bowden’s replacement in 2010 was John James Fisher, Jr. Also known as Jimbo, he won 10 or more games in six of eight seasons, including a national championship in 2013. While his success with the Seminoles is unquestioned, based on recent history he’s better known for securing The Bag while working six mediocre seasons at Texas A&M.

Your Humble Correspondent will refrain from closing with any Aggie jokes.

The author retired in early 2020 after 45 years as a sportswriter. He spent 25 of those at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covering national college basketball (23 Final Fours) and national college football (15 national championships.)