After getting a narrow two-point home victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Florida Gators enter the bye week before The Cocktail Party at 3-4 on the season. Had the Gators fallen to the Bulldogs instead of pulling out the 23-21 win, Billy Napier might already be out of a job. To be quite frank, there is still a chance the university might pull the plug on this experiment before it is too late...
Of the handful of candidates who could conceivably replace Napier, CBS Sports' Danny Kanell offered a completely outside-of-the-box hire for Florida. Yes, the former Florida State Seminoles star quarterback floated Nick Saban's name out there. Saban is on the wrong side of 70, but he is only two years removed from coaching. He says Saban has denied any interest, but he has done this before...
Saban infamously said something like this before leaving the Miami Dolphins to take over at Alabama.
I would not rule out Nick Saban returning to coaching. While I know he is denying any interest, we have heard that before (“I am not coaching at Alabama”). And I think several schools will make a run at him and he will listen. 🐊🐊👀👀
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) October 18, 2025
In all honesty, this feels like an extreme long shot. Why would Saban get back into coaching at this stage of the game? He left Alabama after getting the Crimson Tide back into the College Football Playoff after winning the SEC over Georgia in 2023. Florida has not won the SEC since Tim Tebow was its star quarterback. To date, Florida has never sniffed the College Football Playoff under any format.
Saban getting back into coaching is one thing, but him looking at a job like Florida seems unlikely.
Nick Saban would be a great fit for Florida, but this is never happening...
At this time, it is hard to get one's head around the idea of Saban leaving the ESPN College GameDay desk in favor of another Power Four job. His legacy as the greatest head coach in college football history seems impenetrable. However, he saw one of his friends and mentors in Bill Belichick find out the hard way of what happens if and when the game passes you by. For that reason, Saban is out...
Overall, Saban has nothing to gain and everything to lose in taking over a multi-year project at Florida. This is a football program with a strong tradition, but it does not have the resources of other SEC teams like Alabama, Georgia or Texas. Florida needs to find its next Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer. He might be out there, but going with Saban feels like a desperate plea to cut corners to solve a problem.
Ultimately, Florida may want to target a proven SEC head coach the caliber of Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss or Eliah Drinkwitz at Missouri to be Napier's potential replacement. One could argue that Kiffin and Drinkwitz have the Rebels and Tigers operating at peak efficiency. Florida can be a chaotic job, but it has an upside that neither of those programs can match. It may all come down to money in the end...
For as great as it would be for Florida to replace Napier with Saban, this does not feel likely to happen.