I suppose I wouldn't have a huge issue with Smart taking the opportunity, as long as it were done with class and with respect for Coach Saban and Alabama. If he went to Auburn and in the process tried to gut Bama's coaching staff or recruiting class, that's another story.
I know it's a top 15 job and a major SEC opportunity--not to mention a lot of money if the rumors are true--but because of all the unusual factors involved, it just doesn't sound right to me. Maybe it won't to Kirby either.
Generally, that is the case. At the moment? I don't think so.
There has been a lot of attrition down on the barn. In spite of their highly ranked recruiting classes of late, the cupboard is quite bare. In addition, there is a large split of their players that were recruited for two different offensive and defensive systems. While the defensive changes were minor compared to the offensive changes, that adds to the bareness of the cupboard. They're coming off of a win-less season in-conference and weren't competitive at all in most of those games. Whoever takes that job is looking at a 4 to 5 year rebuilding job to get them back to a legitimate 10-win team and competing to win the West.
They just fired the coach that won them their second National Championship of all time - with their first coming over 50 years ago - only two years after he won them that title. Given the current and likely continued success that we are having in Tuscaloosa, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the fans or the administration will have 4 to 5 years of patience.
- They are going to want to see vast improvement in year one. That should be fairly easy for a good coach.
- They are almost certainly going to want to see signs of being able to compete with Alabama in year two. That will not be an easy task.
- They are most likely going to want to see a 9 to 10 win team with [at least] a chance to win the SEC West by beating Bama in the Iron Bowl in year three. That would be a very difficult, and very unreasonable, task to expect from a new coach - even if Coach Saban were to clone himself this week and Auburn was able to hire his clone next week.
Right now, Arkansas is a better job. They have much, much more talent than the Barn and don't have to compete in their backyard with Saban, Richt, and Muschamp for recruits. Plus, they can much more easily recruit in Texas. Hang on to Paul Petrino - or hire some other good Offensive "System" Coordinator - and build a good defense and they're competing for the West perhaps as early as next year.
Tennessee is currently a better job. Tennessee has always been able to recruit better nationally than most SEC teams. They've got a fair bit of talent. And, despite their disappointing performance, they've got much more talent and a much better, more disciplined football foundation than the Barn.
And, depending upon the perspective, Kentucky might even be a better job. Kentucky fans are happy with a Bowl and ecstatic with a Bowl they have to travel more than two or three hours to get to. Kentucky is almost a perfect "stepping stone" job. They can recruit the SEC and, if you can find a few diamonds in the rough, can amass some decent talent. No, they won't realistically be competing for an SEC Championship, much less a National Championship, anytime soon but they don't expect that. Average 7 to 8 wins per year and throw in one or two 9 or 10 win seasons and - in four or five years - you've got a proven track record of building a team, a happy fan base and administration that will be sorry to see you go, some good years of experience as a Head Coach at an SEC school, and most likely your pick of any Head Coaching position available including a few that you may be able to step into and immediately compete for a Conference Championship.
Because of the hole that the Barn has dug for itself and the constant meddling by certain individuals, taking the Barn job now could almost be career suicide with just a little bad luck - for pretty much any coach.