I'll give you the short form version.
Nick Saban has made it perfectly clear that even after coaching he wants a roll within football.
Bill Battle was hired as a short term AD, or at least that was the plan discussed after Mal passed. If you've noticed there's been ZERO talk of a replacement, a search for a replacement, or any inkling that Battle is going anywhere.
Two and two leads me to believe that CNS will move in to the role of AD when he's ready to stop recruiting (we all know it's not coaching that runs guys off these days, it's recruiting ).
At that time not only will he be able to pick a succesor, he can be an ambassador for the University in all sports.
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Hope you're right. I also think Saban could make the transition a lot easier on whoever his successor is...especially if Saban played an active role in choosing him.
I always thought Perkins got a huge bad break when Bryant died so early in his tenure. Perkins was a fine Xs and Os coach. But PR was not his strong suit. Had he lived, Bryant could have smoothed out some of that, and would have been one of the few people Perkins would have listened to, and accepted coaching from.
But Bryand died less than a month after coaching his last game, Perkins won respect as a coach , but never really won the affection of the fan base. When he left for Tampa Bay, the dark years started, and only 1991-4 under Stallings made it remotely bearable.