Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; ESPN analyst Nick Saban before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Nick Saban to WVU? Analyst Drops Wild Idea If the Legend Returns to Coaching

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Jul 17, 2025 8:06 AM ET

Rich Rodriguez is back in Morgantown, and the excitement surrounding the West Virginia football program is as high as it's been in eighteen years. There's a genuine feeling that sooner rather than later, the Mountaineers are going to get things turned around and return to national relevance.

Although Rodriguez is about to enter his first season back at the helm, WVU has already popped up as a hypothetical candidate for the legendary Nick Saban, should he return to coaching. On3's Ari Wasserman believes Saban-to-WVU would be a "cool" thing to see.

“I am so obsessed with the notion of like returning home. Or coming back to your roots to put a bow on something. Now, you said he would never go to a place that doesn’t have the infrastructure to win a national championship. The question I have is whether or not that infrastructure is created. Could he go to the Big 12 and win a national title?

“Could you imagine Nick Saban at West Virginia? And Rich Rod is the man. Like, I like Rich Rod. But could you imagine him at a Big 12 school like West Virginia, where he grew up? Reviving the Mountaineers and then making the playoff? How cool would that be?”

To be clear, this is not Wasserman stating that West Virginia would have an interest in Saban or that he would have any interest in coming to WVU. It's more of a what-if conversation, and probably all it will ever be.

Unless Rich Rodriguez goes 0-12, which isn't happening, he's not getting fired. Would they fire him to get Nick Saban? Not after one year. The one thing the program needs right now is stability. You can't have three coaches in three years, even if Saban is the guy WVU eventually pursued and hired.

If Saban does indeed express an interest in returning to coaching, there will be several schools making a run at him, and ones that have much deeper pockets and stronger resources than West Virginia. WVU isn't in a position to be out-bidding big-time programs for a coach while also buying out a coaching staff for the second time in as many years.

The ONLY way Saban would land at WVU is if Rodriguez struggles mightily in 2025 and 2026, and Saban is still out of coaching. Even then, you're still going to need him to take a serious hometown discount to pass up others who can offer a lot more than WVU. In this crazy world where anything can happen, such as Rich Rod returning to WVU, I can't ever completely rule anything out, but let's just say this has a less than 1% chance of happening.