In This Post-Nick Saban Apocalyptic World At Alabama, It's Poaching Season For Players And Coaches

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - Brian Kelly was spotted in the lobby of a prominent hotel here last week after Nick Saban announced his retirement as Alabama's football coach.

"Hey, are you Brian Kelly?," an Alabama fan asked Kelly.

"Yes, I am," Kelly said.

"What are you doing in Tuscaloosa?"

Kelly shot back, "Hey, there's an opening isn't there?"

Kelly was kidding, and he does have an effectively dry sense of humor. He was not interviewing for the Alabama head coaching job. Alabama hired Washington coach Kalen DeBoer on Friday.

New Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer took Washington to the national championship game last week in Houston. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, a former Alabama offensive coordinator, has also reportedly been spotted in Tuscaloosa in recent days - not as a coaching candidate.

Yes, it's hunting season at Alabama, or poaching season, with the legendary Saban out of Alabama as coach for just four full days.

NCAA Transfer Portal Open For Alabama Players

"Yeah, it's real," DeBoer said Saturday after his introductory press conference when asked about the threat of poaching players. "It's really strong. I mean, I don't care where you're at."

Assistant coaches get poached, too. But DeBoer is not as concerned with that. He is expected to retain most of the assistant coaches left at Alabama by Saban.

Kelly could have been in town to interview Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. A starting quarterback at Notre Dame for Kelly from 2011-13, Rees also coached Irish quarterbacks for Kelly from 2017-19 and worked as his offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in the 2020 and '21 seasons. Kelly wanted Rees to follow him to LSU as offensive coordinator for the 2022 season, but he remained at Notre Dame before joining Saban as offensive coordinator in the 2023 season.

Rees started slowly at Alabama, but in the end did a very good job in bringing along quarterback Jalen Milroe. DeBoer is expected to bring his Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to Alabama. Grubb has coached with or under DeBoer for the most part since 2007 at Sioux Falls, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Washington. Saban tried to hire Grubb to Alabama last year ahead of Rees, but Grubb stayed at Washington.

A more enticing reason coaches may be flocking to Alabama these days that concerns DeBoer more is because of an NCAA rule concerning programs who have just lost head coaches. The NCAA grants those players an immediate 30-day window in which they can enter the Transfer Portal and choose another school. And at the moment, the portal is closed to players who have not seen their coaches leave. The last portal window ended on Jan. 2. The next one does not open until April 16.

Alabama lost top wide receiver Isaiah Bond to the portal quickly after Saban retired last Wednesday. And on Sunday, he landed at Texas. Among other Tide players who have either entered the portal or are considering it in recent days are cornerback Dezz Ricks and tight end Amari Niblack.

Immediately after Saban announced his retirement, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne divided up the football roster among his staff in an effort to keep players out of the portal.

"You had to," he said. "You didn't have a choice. Knowing the rule now as soon as a coach leaves, players have that 30-day window immediately. You have the pressures of that going on. That was critical in the process (of the Saban transition)."

Alabama Prepared For Nick Saban Retirement

DeBoer immediately began working on keeping his roster as of Friday when he accepted the job as well as hiring his new staff.

"I want to be very thorough," he said. "And the fine line with that is that our players on our own roster are being sought after. There's less people (assistant coaches) to get in front of them. And so we're working tirelessly with who we have here."

DeBoer did bring with him to Tuscaloosa on Friday his roster general manager from Washington - Courtney Morgan.

"We're having one-on-ones with players," DeBoer said. "I've that a bunch already last night (Friday) and today (Saturday). So, I'll work on getting a staff together very quickly."

Almost on arrival, Kalen DeBoer lost defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson to a co-defensive coordinator post at Georgia. He admits he needs some Southeastern Conference experience on his new staff.

"I understand there needs to be some SEC ties, some Southeast ties that can help bridge the gap of maybe my experiences here," he said. "I don't want to lead you on that there's every coach's number on my phone right now. I've just got to put myself in a spot where the right people are around me. I think there's an ability to adapt that I feel confident in where we're at."

Alabama retired coach Nick Saban plans to help new coach Kalen DeBoer. (Getty Images)

Bryne and Nick Saban plan to help.

"Knowing coach and how he is, he's going to be extremely supportive of coach DeBoer," Byrne said. "And he has told me that for a lot of years, that whenever this time came, he wanted to see the program keep succeeding at a high level. And anything he can help in that process, he's going to do. I think he (DeBoer) will make good decisions when it comes to putting a staff together and is already working on that. He's had a successful staff that he's worked with."