With the NFL regular season and College Football Playoff coming to an end, three legendary coaches, Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, and Pete Carroll, have stepped away from their respective teams.
Nick Saban, age 72, retired from his position as the University of Alabama’s head football coach after 17 years. He decided to hang up his whistle after 206 total wins, including six National titles as Alabama’s coach.
“I think [Saban is retiring] obviously because of old age, but I think another part has to do with the NIL (name, image, likeness) and transfer portal,” Luke Fykes, junior, said. “I think college football is becoming more of a professional sport at a collegiate level and that’s not really his vision of college football.”
Saban is considered to be one of the best to ever coach at the collegiate level.
“If you ask anyone who knows and watches the sport they would say that [Saban] is the best college coach of all time. Seven-time national champion, six at Alabama and one at LSU, has never had a losing season in 28 seasons with 11 SEC titles so I say he has to be the GOAT.” Fykes said.
After 24 years with the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick has stepped away in search of a fresh start.
“I believe [Belichick’s] style of coaching and message had grown stale in New England. It was time for a new voice to lead the organization,” Ben Kenerson, Patriots fan, said. “All good things must come to an end[…] Including [Tom Brady] and [Belichick] as part of the [Patriots].”
Many speculate that Belichick’s success can be attributed to Tom Brady. With Brady as Belichick’s starting quarterback, Belichick won 219 games and had 64 losses compared to 47 wins and 57 losses without him.
“Obviously Brady was a key component [to the team’s success], but [Belichick] was the one who put Brady in the position to do well,” Jack Costello, senior, said. “After Brady left, the team wasn’t the best and [Belichick] just got put in a pretty bad situation.”
Belichick is looking to continue his coaching career, and is rumored to be in the running for the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers head coaching spot.
“[Belichick] still has a couple more years left in him. He wants more to achieve and he knows how to get these players to the Super Bowl,” Emilio Peralta, junior, said. “[Atlanta] has everything, just poor coaching and lack of a quarterback.”
Another great football coach, Pete Carroll, was relieved of his duties after 14 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks but will move to an advisor position with the team.
“I think it is fair to say that [Carroll’s] time with the Seahawks [was over]. They kind of just plateaued with not much progress being made,” Peralta said.
With head coaching openings across the league, many question whether Carroll’s change in role is the right decision.
“I don’t believe [it was the right move]. He has tons of experience, [including] one Super Bowl. He knows how to win games and develop quarterbacks. It was an early [decision] but maybe it will end up being a good one in the long run,” Jake Finnegan, junior, said.
The firings and hirings will be the talk of the offseason for months as fans await the next football season.
“With head coaching vacancies [around the league], it causes a domino effect along the line [with hirings]. One team is going to get the bad end of the stick because they are going to have to replace their coaches,” Fykes said.
