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A spotlight is shining on Death Valley as the LSU Tigers search for their next football coach.
While an Ed Orgeron reunion hasn’t been ruled out yet, 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 started the rumor mill after telling Us Weekly that he had “heard through the grapevine” conversations with Saban about bringing him back to the sidelines.
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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 can bring Nick back,” O’Neal told the newspaper.
Ausberry, appearing on 104.5 ESPN, denied those rumors.
“Nick Saban and I have a standing conversation probably every two or three weeks,” he said. “We’re good friends, first of all. He’s someone I admire a lot. Nick Saban was kidding. He’s not coming back to football, okay? Miss Terry won’t let him. It’s not going to happen. Let’s get this out of the way soon, because if he was and he was interested, I’d drive down there and get him right now.”
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Saban’s dynasty run with the Alabama Crimson Tide gets all the attention, but his first national title came with the Tigers during his tenure as head coach from 2000 to 2004. He then left college football for a shot at the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, but after that didn’t work out, he landed in Tuscaloosa — and the rest is history.
Saban went on to win six national titles with Alabama and build one of the game’s greatest dynasties before his surprise retirement in 2023.
With all the head coaching firings across college football this season — Penn State’s James Franklin was the biggest before the Tigers let Brian Kelly go four years into his 10-year pact with the university — Saban talked about a potential return to the sport on ESPN’s “College GameDay.”
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban looks on 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, about which he has been vocal in the past. “Whether it’s the transfer portal, how much you can pay guys, revenue sharing, what kind of collective do you have? So traditionally, how have you been able to adapt to that?
“Some of the traditional jobs, like LSU, that people always looked at as one of the best jobs, have they adapted to all these things, like are they going to continue to be one of the best jobs in the country?”
Saban added that he has no plans to return to the sidelines ever 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 SEC Championship Game appearance. He was also unable to get the Tigers into the College Football Playoff.
Nick Saban is on stage at ESPN College GameDay prior to the University of Oklahoma-Michigan college football game in Norman, Okla., on Sept. 6, 2025. (IMAGIN)
It wasn’t just Kelly who was out the door in Baton Rouge, as athletic director Scott Woodward was also pushed out, even though 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 supporters and the rest of the college football world will continue to wait to see what LSU does with its vacancy — just like other programs across the country.
