Alabama football rumors: Shocking detail of Nick Saban replacement search emerges

Yes, it really happened.

Nick Saban is no longer the Alabama football coach. The 72-year-old Saban, a titanic force who reigned over college sports for more than two decades, has decided to focus on the next stage of life. He leaves Alabama after 17 seasons, with six national championships under his belt (and a seventh ring from his time at LSU, for good measure).

The move came as an utter shock to everybody, but none more than members of the Alabama staff. According to 247 Sports, Saban interviewed candidates for the vacant role of wide receivers coach earlier today. He also participated in the regular SEC coaches call on Wednesday morning, becoming animated at multiple points during the conversation.

In short, Saban's decision "caught many inside the building by surprise." He told the team of his plans to retire in a meeting around 4 PM ET, citing age and health concerns. Most surprising of all, however, is how quickly Alabama plans to find Saban's successor.

"The team was told that Alabama hoped to have its next head coach in place in the next 72 hours, according to sources."

The Crimson Tide are expected to court several high-profile coaches from across the college football landscape. Among the most prominent potential candidates are Oregon's Dan Lanning, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, and Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin. Any entrenched head coach will require a hefty buyout, on top of a substantial contract offer to coax them out of their current role.

Alabama plans to hire next football coach within 72 hours

Now, we shouldn't necessarily expect Alabama to pull off their next hire within the 72-hour window team members were provided. This is going to be a tricky process. Given the sudden and shocking nature of Saban's retirement, we can assume the program didn't have a ton of advanced notice. Had Alabama been reaching out to potential replacements for weeks, we probably would've heard about it by now.

If the Crimson Tide plan to land a true powerhouse coach, 72 hours is not much time to accomplish it. Alabama is the sport's premier coaching job — even the best coaches at the best programs will have to think hard about the opportunity — but unless there has been significant progress made behind the scenes, the process could drag out.

On the other hand, Alabama would no doubt prefer a quick turnaround here. The Crimson Tide have already suffered losses on the recruiting front. Players have a 30-day window to enter the portal now that Saban has left. The sooner Alabama lands a new coach, the sooner that coach can work toward retaining current players and recruits, and maybe even bringing over new recruits from their previous school.

Safe to say the entire college football world needs a minute to process the gravity of Saban's departure. Alabama, however, will be working diligently to fill that massive void and put the program back in contention for the College Football Playoff next season.