Alabama, Washington, and Arizona coaching changes have transfer portal wide open again

Nick Saban turned the college football world upside down last Wednesday with his surprise retirement. That was just the first domino to fall and set into motion landscape-altering coach movement. 

Kalen DeBoer left Washington after just two seasons to take Saban’s job at Alabama. He brought Ryan Grubb, his offensive coordinator with him, which meant the Huskies needed a head coach. Washington grabbed Jedd Fisch from Arizona after just three seasons in Tuscon, so the Wildcats are looking to make a hire. 

It could be a while before everything falls into place, but Saban’s move didn’t just reactivate the coaching carousel, it sparked the transfer portal, which had begun to cool off. Every player on those three teams now has a 30-day transfer portal window. That means two of the four teams in the College Football Playoff, and a 10-3 Arizona team that beat Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl are flooding the market with talent. 

Most of the rosters across the country are already filled, but coaches can find a way to make room for these notable transfers from the three teams that lost their head coach last week.