The Alabama Crimson Tide are being pushed to consider a head coaching change.

After getting embarrassed by the Florida State Seminoles in Week 1, Bama Nation is in full panic mode.

But not just the fans of the Alabama Crimson Tide, it’s several media members.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who isn’t shy to throw a hot take around, believed that Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer should be fired. 

Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky wonders if DeBoer can even make it past September.

Not only that, Paul Finebaum, who’s never been shy to state his opinion on Alabama football, ripped DeBoer, calling him “clueless.”

But this past Monday, legendary Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett chimed in on Alabama’s situation and suggested that Jon Gruden could be a possible option to replace DeBoer as the head coach.

However, there’s a lot to unpack.

First of all, no matter how bad the loss looks for both the program and DeBoer, it’s only one game into his second season in Tuscaloosa. 

Not only that, DeBoer carries one of the highest buyouts in college football.

Let’s say Alabama decides to fire DeBoer today, it would require the school to pay him $70 million. And for a program that has had an interesting time navigating around NIL, the school spending $70 million just for someone to leave seems unlikely.

In another interesting twist though, Clarett pointed out what Gruden’s aspirations entailed.

“This is a hard take. I was with Jon Gruden two weeks ago. You know what Jon Gruden said he wants to do? He said ‘I want to coach in the SEC.’ So you mean to tell me, if Jon Gruden went to whoever is at Alabama and said ‘I’m interested in coaching football,’ you don’t think they get him (expletive) out of there?”

To back up Clarett's claim, Gruden has gone on the record to say that he has aspirations of being an SEC coach in a video posted onto his YouTube channel: 

"I want to coach again. I’d die to coach in the SEC. I would love it." 

Gruden, who now works with Barstool Sports, is such a polarizing figure in football. He has one of the more brilliant minds in the game, but sometimes his personality can rub people the wrong way.

He was able to parlay some success winning Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but after that, there hasn’t been much else.

In 2018, he was hired as the coach for the then-Oakland Raiders and at the time, was given the most expensive coaches contract in NFL history – for 10 years, $100 million.

But has Gruden done anything to earn the reputation he has in football circles? Or is it just that he’s good for a soundbite and you hope that everything falls into place?

Perhaps Gruden would be a great fit at Alabama, but for the buyout cost of $70 million, one Super Bowl win well over 20 years ago, and a .511 win percentage is hardly worth the price of admission.

There are better options to uphold the “Alabama Standard” than Gruden, and most of those options are already employed by other NFL teams or college programs.

So unless Alabama wants to torch $70 million and hitch its wagon to a coach living off a 20-year-old Super Bowl, DeBoer isn’t going anywhere. 

Crimson Tide fans may not like it, but for now, panic is all they can do.