Nick Saban: 'No Indication' Bill O'Brien Will Leave Alabama Amid Patriots Buzz

Alabama head coach Nick Saban isn't planning to be in the market for a new offensive coordinator this offseason.

ESPN's Adam Schefter last week named Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien as a possible replacement for Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.

On Wednesday, Saban downplayed the rumors.

"We have no indication of that, other than what y'all put on the internet right now, which is a lot of maybes," he told reporters. "We're not trying to address anything that might happen."

Nobody expects O'Brien to be on the Alabama staff for the long haul.

Following the success of Lane Kiffin from 2014-16, the Crimson Tide offensive coordinator position has served as a springboard to bigger and better things.

Kiffin returned to the head coach ranks at Florida Atlantic in 2017 and has spent the last two years as the head coach at Ole Miss. His replacement, Brian Daboll, was at Alabama for only one season before filling the Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator vacancy and just became the head coach for the New York Giants. It was Steve Sarkisian's turn in 2019, and he parlayed two years with the Tide into the head job at Texas.

O'Brien's experience with New England makes a move to the Patriots plausible. He joined the franchise as an offensive assistant in 2007 and moved up to become offensive coordinator in 2011. He then became the head coach for Penn State (2012-13) and the Houston Texans (2014-20).

"His experience developing quarterbacks and calling plays would make him a strong [fit] for the role," The Athletic's Matthew Fairburn wrote of the 52-year-old's potential to succeed McDaniels. "Belichick typically hires coaches he's familiar with, and O'Brien checks that box as well."

Alabama's offensive coordinator turnover has done little to hurt the team on the field. The Tide won the national championship in 2017 after Kiffin left and were the national runners-up following Daboll's and Sarkisian's departures.

Should O'Brien bolt, it will probably be business as usual for Saban, and he'll have no shortage of interested candidates for the position.