Getty Image / Kevin C. Cox
With Nick Saban announcing his retirement on Wednesday, the college football world was full of people prognosticating on whom the next football coach at Alabama will be.
Naturally, sportsbooks have had to get in on the action, and betting lines on who would be the next Alabama coach were posted almost immediately by overseas sportsbooks that can accept wagers on such events.
And, due to some significant movement in those lines, we can make a guess as to whom the oddsmakers are hearing is going to be the next coach at Alabama.
Here were the original lines posted by BetOnline early Wednesday evening on the East Coast.
Odds to be the next Alabama Head Coach per @betonline_ag :
Dan Lanning 3/1
Dabo Swinney 4/1
Lane Kiffin 5/1
Deion Sanders 6/1
Kalen DeBoer 6/1
Pat Shurmur 9/1
Urban Meyer 10/1
Billy Napier 14/1
Derek Dooley 14/1
Mike Norvell 16/1
Ryan Day 20/1
DeMeco Ryans 22/1
Marcus Freeman…— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) January 11, 2024
As you can see, Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning had the best odds, but they were nowhere near even money, and plenty of others, like Lane Kiffin, had similar odds.
But, those odds have changed considerably. As of 2AM ET on Thursday, these are the latest odds from the same source.
Wow. That’s a pretty significant change in odds for Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning. Now, he’s better than even money to be the next head coach at Alabama.
Rumors swirled Wednesday that Lanning was in fact already in Tuscaloosa to interview for the job. It was even reported by a local news station in Oregon. But, that was reported to be not true by both Oregon and Alabama insiders.
Regardless of those rumors, the sportsbooks are clearly convinced that Dan Lanning is a heavy favorite to step into Nick Saban’s shoes and take on one of the highest profile coaching jobs in all of sports.