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News that shook the South

Undoubtedly you’ve heard plenty said about Nick Saban over the past day.

News of his retirement puts a period — better make that an exclamation point — on a 28-year head-coaching career during which Saban won 292 games, 19 bowl victories, 12 conference titles, 11 of of them in the SEC, and seven national championships.

Those seven national titles are more than anyone else has. Six of them came at Alabama, matching Bear Bryant’s total with the Tide.

In our state, this is as big a cultural story as it is a sports story.

You had Alabama fans laying flowers and Oatmeal Creme Pies at the foot of Saban’s statue in Tuscaloosa, Auburn fans rolling the oaks at Toomer’s Corner in celebration, and veteran weatherman James Spann answering some folks’ concerns on social media by assuring us all that he was not nearing retirement himself.

We couldn’t handle two of these close together.

So what’s next? Expect the most insanely frenzied coaching search we’ve seen in a while — in a sport where all coaching searches are insanely frenzied. Names were immediately be batted around as favorite replacements for Saban: Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Texas’s Steve Sarkisian.

It’s all educated speculation, but don’t expect the search and hire to take too long, especially in this era of transfer portals. We already saw Saraland’s 5-star receiver Ryan Williams decommit from Alabama almost immediately after the Saban news broke.

So if you’re a Tide fan, grab hold of something and hang on.

New execution still on track

A federal judge denied a condemned Alabama man’s request for an injunction to stop his execution by nitrogen hypoxia, reports AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw.

Some of the claims in Kenneth Eugene Smith’s lawsuit may move forward in the courts, but he’s scheduled to die during the window beginning at 2 a.m. Jan. 25 and ending at 6 a.m. Jan. 26.

U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker Jr.: “there is simply not enough evidence to find with any degree of certainty or likelihood that execution by nitrogen hypoxia under the Protocol is substantially likely to cause Smith superadded pain.”

Smith’s execution, if it takes place, would be the first using the nitrogen method.

Smith was convicted twice in the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in Colbert County.

Union efforts

The United Auto Workers of America may be making a play in Alabama in its effort to bring non-union U.S. plants into the fold, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

The UAW says that at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance (Tuscaloosa County) around 1,500 workers, or about 30 percent of the work force there, has signed union authorization cards.

The union’s efforts at the Vance plant have previously not gotten very far. But the UAW considers this a big milestone and has a goal of reaching 70% buy-in before it calls on the company to recognize the union.

Quoting

“Please do not travel to the town for at least the next few days.”

Houston County Commissioner Brandon Shoupe, about Cottonwood, which was struck by a tornado early Tuesday. Workers were still clearing debris and downed power lines.

By the numbers

560

That’s how many people died in traffic crashes worked by Alabama state troopers in 2023.

Picture that

Demolition on the iconic Gibson’s Bar-B-Q building in Huntsville began Monday. The restaurant had been closed since an April 7, 2022 fire. (Photo by Matt Wake/AL.com)

More Alabama news

Born on this date

In 1930, Lula Mae Hardaway of Eufala, songwriter and mother of Stevie Wonder.

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