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A spotlight shines on Death Valley as the LSU Tigers search for their next football coach.
While an Ed Orgeron reunion has not yet been ruled out, interim athletic director Verge Ausberry crossed one name off the list.
Nick Saban was floated as a potential candidate, and it was LSU alumnus and Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal who stirred up the rumor mill after telling Us Weekly that he “heard through the grapevine” that talks had been held with Saban about returning him to the bench.
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Nick Saban speaks during ESPN’s College GameDay at Vanderbilt University on October 25, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Carly Mackler/Getty Images)
“It would be great if we could bring Nick back,” O’Neal told the outlet.
Ausberry, on 104.5 ESPN, denied those rumors.
“Nick Saban and I have an ongoing conversation probably every two or three weeks,” he said. “We’re good friends, first of all. He’s a person I admire a lot. Nick Saban was joking. There’s no way he’s going back to football, okay? Miss Terry’s not going to let him. That’s not going to happen. Let’s get that out of the way soon, because if he was interested, I’d drive over there and pick him up right now.”
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Saban’s dynasty with the Alabama Crimson Tide gets all the attention, but his first national title came with the Tigers during his stint as head coach from 2000 to 2004. He then left college football to try out for the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, but after that stint didn’t work out, he landed in Tuscaloosa, and the rest is history.
Saban won six national titles with Alabama, building one of the game’s greatest dynasties before his surprising retirement in 2023.
With all the head coaching firings in college football this season (Penn State’s James Franklin was the biggest before the Tigers let Brian Kelly serve out four years of his 10-year pact with the university), Saban addressed a possible return to the sport on ESPN’s “College GameDay.”
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban watches before the SEC championship game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 2, 2023. (John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports)
“You have all these external factors that are constantly changing,” Saban said of the current college football landscape, which he has spoken about in the past. “Whether it’s the transfer portal, how much can they pay guys, revenue sharing, what kind of collective do they have? So, traditionally, how have they been able to adapt to that?
“Have some of the traditional jobs, like LSU, that people always considered one of the best jobs, adapted to all of these things that they need to continue to be one of the best jobs in the country?”
Saban added that he has no plans to ever return to banking again.
Kelly was fired after losing three straight games to ranked opponents following a 5-0 start to the season. He finished his LSU career 34-14, which included just one appearance in the SEC Championship Game. He also failed to lead the Tigers to the College Football Playoffs.
Nick Saban is on stage at ESPN College GameDay before the University of Oklahoma-Michigan college football game in Norman, Oklahoma, on September 6, 2025. (IMAGE)
It wasn’t just Kelly who walked out the door in Baton Rouge, as athletic director Scott Woodward was also ousted, although he formally resigned. He had fallen out of favor with LSU stakeholders, including Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who publicly said Woodward would not choose the next football coach.
With Saban’s name out of the mix, Tigers fans and the rest of the college football world will continue to wait to see what LSU does with its vacancy, as will other programs across the country.
