National Football League

New chapters await for Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban after week of change

Updated Jan. 12, 2024 8:17 p.m. ET

As much as this week's spate of stunning, era-ending coaching shifts caused football fans to look backward and reminisce, Eric Mangini believes there is just as much reason to look forward.

What began with Pete Carroll moving out in Seattle continued with Nick Saban deciding 17 years of Alabama dominance was enough and wrapped up with Bill Belichick's Patriots tenure ending after two-plus decades. It happened with remarkable speed and varying degrees of jaw-dropping surprise.

According to FOX analyst and former NFL head coach Mangini, however, the truly fascinating part lies not in what just happened, but in what comes next. For he refuses to believe that any of the three men have closed the book on their time in football, despite a combined age of 215 years.

"It has been a pretty amazing week; unprecedented in many ways," Mangini told me via telephone Thursday. "But I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens now with all of them.

"If you were an NFL team that was looking for an edge, why wouldn't you give Nick Saban's people a call and see what he might be open to? Imagine what he could do for you around a draft. He knows so many of the players in the league already, or has coached against them.

"For as long as he's been around, from an NFL standpoint, his perspectives would still be fresh. He would bring so much to be table, and I think he would find it hard to resist the challenge. We know he got frustrated with the transfer system and NIL and all that. But I can't imagine him just settling down and playing golf all day."

Regarding Carroll, who was steered out of the Seahawks coaching hot seat and into an advisor role, Mangini suggested that a switch back to the college ranks, where he led USC to a pair of national championships, could be a shrewd move.

After 14 years in Seattle, highlighted by a thumping triumph over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, Carroll's time ran out after the team narrowly missed out on the current postseason. Three days later, the change was made.

Pete Carroll out as Seahawks coach; was this the right move?

"I know Pete wants to coach," Mangini said. "One thing that could be really interesting would be for him to go back to college football. Maybe take over a program that has had some struggles and build it back up, with a young coach alongside him with the idea that he could take over in a few years."

As for Belichick, rumors linking him with the vacant Los Angeles Chargers position aren't getting any quieter and his departure press conference in New England was frosty at best.

"It seemed like Bill wanted to stay, and I imagine he has something lined up," Mangini added. "Now, maybe you have a situation where a coach who has won six Super Bowls goes somewhere with fresh motivation and a point to prove, which is going to be dramatic in its own right."

Naturally, the three departures have left openings that need to be filled, but Mangini does not envy the men who step into the shoes vacated by Saban, Belichick and Carroll, describing the Alabama and Patriots positions, in particular, as among the "worst jobs in football."

Who replaces Nick Saban at Alabama?

Living up to the standards set in both locations is a seemingly impossible task, while the challenge in Seattle is whether to find a personality to replicate Carroll's non-traditional, smiley-faced leadership style, or to try a new approach entirely.

"Alabama, right now, is one of the most difficult jobs you could ever take," he said. "When you take over from a legend, everything looks worse than it really is. Expectations are going to be so ridiculously high, whether that's based in reality or not.

"It is the same in New England, even after a couple of difficult years. A whole generation of Patriots fans have grown up expecting the team to get to the Super Bowl and win the division every year. Unless the new Tom Brady magically walks through the door, those times are never coming back at that level.

Bill Belichick, Patriots mutually part ways

"In Seattle, it is a little different, but still tough. Do they go with a disciplinarian to draw a line under the past, or do they try to hold on to part of it? Those decisions are going to determine how things go over the next couple of years."

It has been one heck of a week in football, the big moves achieving what might normally be considered unthinkable — overshadowing the buildup to the start of the NFL postseason.

But while these unmistakably feel like shifting times, Mangini's thoughts open up a tantalizing possibility.

That the end of three eras could also open up a three-pronged feast of new beginnings.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.