There will be tremendous pressure on whoever is hired to replace Coach Saban. Unless there is a can't miss home run hire at the time Saban leaves, hiring someone who can handle the transition may be necessary, so yes a bridge hire a guy, near the end of his career. Right now there is no way of knowing the situation Alabama will be in at the time. It would be foolish to rule anything out.
Again the problem is that whoever gets the job is going to have a NC caliber team for 5 years, and anything less than one is going to bring us to that road of hiring and firing again.
Lets play out a scenario...
Lets say we go 15-0, beat tOSU, and CNS retires on the field saying (not actually saying) "Ive tied the Bear at Alabama with NCs, Ive beaten the Bear in total NCs, Urban would never win 6 in 10 years so he is no threat to my legacy, and there is noway I'm going to try BB and Joe Pa's record because I'm too old and they are irrelevant as Don Shula's record in the NFL"
So Byrne is going to have to hire a coach next year. So there are 3 permanent categories:
1) Best
Realistically Dabo and Peterson are the best available with the possibility to come.
2) Saban Disciples with HC experience
-Kirby- isn't coming, and why would he
-Dantonio- Isnt coming and why would he.
- Jimbo- isn't coming and the reason is because CS has a hospital that can treat his son's condition, and that was a huge reason why he left Tallahassee
- Kiffin- isn't going to get an offer
with those out of the way lets get to more realistic candidates
- Muschamp- Failed at Florida, recruits great defenses, and is a loudmouth that would instantly remind people of Perkins
-Mac- Failed at Florida, bad recruiter, weird personality, and very conservative play caller
- Applewhite- a lot has changed from 2007, and he is an important reason Herman did well at Houston, but too inexperienced
-Pruitt- recruits well, but very unproven
So I would say Mac and Mush are probably the two Saban disciples that have the best chances of getting an offer and come.
3) Outside Mid tier-
Here is where it gets really tricky. Where do you go with this? I think the best names are Gundy, matt Campbell, Neal Brown, and Fuente.
-Brown is the most unknown out of those, but he knows Alabama recruiting
-Campbell is actually better and more proven than what people think
-Fuente I just don't think he will leave VT
So that leaves Gundy. Gundy is pretty dang good offensively, and has had the best run that any coach in Okie St history (Jimmy Johnson and Les Miles), but I think you need a level of control over him if you are going to hire him.
So now we move into the Steward hires:
1) Saban Disciple within the team-
- Dave Enos is the best coach out of the whole staff that may be ready for the HC job and its not really close
-Locksley is 2nd
but both of those have been at really minor teams with not a lot of any success at HCs
Everyone else is just very green
***WC***
Butch Jones- yeah he is a great recruiter, but does anyone really want to hear his Butchisms
2) Saban Disciple not currently with the team_
Steele and Cignetti are probably the best out there unless you really want to hire Dooley
3) Outsiders to seat for a transition period-
A) the old farts that can win-
I really think you would have to look at either your guys like Butch Davis, Cutcliffs , and those guys that would like one more run at a big time program to end their career in 5 years on a blaze of glory.
Then you get to interesting picks like Les Miles (boy that would be fun to win a NC with him, especially since the Tigahs fired him for Oeaux) Stoops, and Spurrier.
Basically in this group your are probably looking for someone for 1 last hoorah that knows their purpose is to win a championship and get out in 5 years for a younger guy.
The point is that a transition or interim pick isn't really that great. We probably need a proven winner again because the 5 years after Saban are going to be like the 5 years after Stallings in which we have the talent to win a NCG, and anything less that an above average pick is probably going to be a very disappointing 5 year run.