3 Bill O’Brien replacements Alabama needs to hire to reignite the offense

Alabama football needs something to change after wasting Bryce Young and missing the College Football Playoff and Bill O’Brien is likely top of that list. 

Though you never want to put too much blame on one person, it’s hard not to look at the last two seasons for the Alabama Crimson Tide and wonder what might’ve been had Bill O’Brien not been the offensive coordinator.

This is a team that had one of the elite quarterback talents in program history with Bryce Young and that resulted in zero national championships and only one College Football Playoff berth after the team missed out in 2022. And anyone who watched had to be cognizant of O’Brien’s shortcomings. Routinely, the play-calling, the play designs and the simple game plan just seemed wildly erratic and often off-base. In fact, the argument could be made that O’Brien would’ve looked worse without Young’s elite talent bailing out many plays.

A report from MMQB’s Albert Breer in early December suggested that O’Brien would be interested in a return to the NFL, something that Nick Saban would almost surely be into as well. No matter what O’Brien wants, though, Alabama football needs to move on from him. If that indeed happens, here’s where the Crimson Tide should look to replace him.

Alabama Football: 3 Bill O’Brien replacements the Crimson Tide need badly

Dan Mullen, welcome to Nick Saban’s Alabama school for wayward coaches

O’Brien is actually an outlier in what has become a trend for Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator. Prior to the former Houston Texans head coach arriving in Tuscaloosa, the role was previously held by the likes of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian, both of whom proved immensely successful at Alabama and then parlayed that into big-time jobs at Ole Miss and Texas. O’Brien, obviously, has not had the same success.

Dan Mullen, however, could be more to fit the bill. Currently an analyst working with ESPN and SEC Network and the head coach at Florida before that, things did not go particularly well by the standards of Gators fans (and boosters) for him in Gainesville. A big part of that was due to his lack of recruiting prowess, but his offensive game-planning was never in question.

While at Mississippi State, Mullen routinely developed talent and made the most of the players at his disposal. That works at a smaller school as a head coach but is more difficult to pull off at a place like Florida when the program expects high-level recruits to be on the roster and getting the same treatment.

Should he end up with the Crimson Tide, though, Mullen would have to recruit but his primary job would be to maximize an already elite roster in terms of talent, something that he should be more than capable of. That could all depend on if he wants to get out of the world of TV but the fit would be undeniably great given his track record on the offensive side of the ball.