Turning Tide In Dixie Precedes Paradigm Shift Between ALA-AUB After G.O.A.T. Led To Pasture

Turning Tide In Dixie Precedes Paradigm Shift Between ALA-AUB After G.O.A.T. Led To Pasture

January 13, 2024 Skye Underwood By
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban are close friends off the field and their families have even vacationed together (Butch Dill/Associated Press)

“Rolling Toomer’s Corner is reserved for Auburn victories,” was the sentiment shared by some Auburn fans when they learned rolls of toilet paper were being flung at their beloved oak trees after the greatest college football coach in history, Nick Saban announced his retirement as Alabama’s head football coach.

Heck, give me a few rolls of t.p. and I’ll heave them in the oaks. There are not many dubs more important than your biggest rival losing the greatest coach in the sport’s history. Toomer’s Oaks should resemble a white Christmas after the news broke.

Alabama dominated college football under Saban’s seventeen-year reign at the Capstone where he won six national championships and nine SEC titles for a total of seven natties and eleven SEC crowns including his five-year stint at LSU.

Three words to describe Saban’s career at Bama — consistency of excellence.

In the modern era of college football, no head coach nor program had a stranglehold on the sport for more than a decade like Saban’s Crimson Tide. He took Alabama to the mountain top and became a mainstay like the Sherpas of the Himalayas.

As seasons and years passed, Saban’s biggest adversary — Father Time — was making his own trek up the mountain to retrieve the G.O.A.T. and lead him out to pasture.

Nick Saban’s storied 50-year coaching career that started in 1973 as a graduate assistant at Kent State saw the Greatest Of All-Time compile a 292–71–1 record, win seven national championships, 11 SEC championships, & 12 SEC West crowns after head coaching stops at Michigan State, Louisiana State, and Alabama.

The dynasty is done.

The reign is over.

The finisher is finished.

As a matter of fact, not only should Toomer’s be blanketed in white, but the Auburn marching band should be blasting the fight song while Aurea circles the oaks overhead looking down at Auburn fans launching rolls of butt paper into the trees.

Let’s party!

In all candor, this is an incredibly big moment for the Auburn University football program because of the opportunity that comes along with the news of Saban’s retirement.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze’s job just got a lot easier after being hired a little over a year ago. With no G.O.A.T. to compete against on the other side of the state, Freeze has a unique opportunity to lead Auburn to a paradigm shift of college football power in the Heart of Dixie.

Before the news rippled throughout the college football world, Freeze and Auburn had already shown signs of its willingness to stand toe-to-toe with the G.O.A.T. and compete like hell, whether it be on the field, or especially off of it in recruiting where Auburn started beating out Bama for kids that previously chose the Tide in years past.

The Tigers’ 2024 recruiting class currently ranks No. 7 in the country, which features the No. 1 wide receiver class in the nation, but Auburn still has their sights set on another addition or two by the time National Signing Day rolls around next month on February 7th.

Perhaps no single recruitment is more evident of the turning of the Tide than 2024 five-star receiver Ryan Williams, who decommitted from Alabama the day that Saban called it quits.

Williams is the last remaining piece of the puzzle that would be the highest-rated wide receiver class, ever, appropriately tagged the Freeze Five composed of three five-stars and two four-stars all from right here inside of the state of Alabama.

The dynamic playmaker has three final visits scheduled to Texas, Alabama, and Auburn before he announces his decision on his birthday February 9th, two days after NSD.

A Ryan Williams commitment to Auburn would mean Freeze signed a top-5 recruiting class in his first full cycle as head coach on the Plains, and the balance of power in this state will begin to shift from Tuscaloosa County down to Lee County now that the G.O.A.T. has come down from the mountaintop and is grazing in the pasture.

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