Top 5 offensive coordinator options for Alabama

5. Major Applewhite

Applewhite doesn’t seem like the favorite to become the next Alabama offensive coordinator, but his ties to Saban and the Alabama program certainly have him on the radar. The former Texas quarterback got his start coaching as a grad assistant at his alma mater before rising the ranks to become Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Saban’s first season at Alabama in 2007. Applewhite went back to Texas and spent time with Houston — where he was eventually promoted to become the Cougars’ head coach — over the next decade, but returned to Tuscaloosa as an analyst in 2019. In 2021, he left the Crimson Tide to become the offensive coordinator at South Alabama. Already coaching in the state, a move back to the Power 5 ranks would seem tough to pass up for Applewhite, and there is no doubt Saban would feel comfortable with one of his former coaching staff members leading the offense.