I was going to make a post just about Alabama's defensive stats but I'm not sure there's a point in that. Alabama's defense got lit up by the previously 100th ranked scoring offense. This is the sort of team that a legit Alabama defense could have shut out, and they did that for one quarter. The problem was the other three quarters. Now Alabama's scoring defense is ranked 40th. This was a defense that on paper was loaded with talent, and yet it's continuing a trend that began with Golding's arrival.
The scoring defense has become worse every season since 2017. The end result is Golding's current defense is tied for the worst of the Saban era with the 2007 team, but he has also overseen the third worst (2020), fourth worst (2019) and sixth worst (2018). Only the 2014 defense crashes the party with the fifth worst scoring defense. I should note that 2018 Golding was co-DC so you can ponder if that defense would have been better or worse if it was his sole responsibility.
Some might argue that the game is changing and that accounts for the higher point totals. Let me put it another way. Since Saban arrived at Alabama the defense has ranked outside of the top 10 in scoring defense only five times. Four of those times Golding has been the defensive coordinator. The fifth time was Nick Saban's first season at Alabama. Alabama was a top 10 defense every single year from 2008-2017 and has not been a top 10 defense once since Golding arrived. To me the blame clearly lies on his shoulders. He took what appeared easy for Alabama and made it impossible.
Having arrived to the conclusion that Golding is clearly not doing his job well, that doesn't make the task of replacing him easy does it? The obvious replacement for him is potentially in NCAA trouble. While I would point out that hiring Pruitt would technically do no more than irritate the NCAA, Saban might not even be allowed to hire Pruitt in the same way he wasn't allowed to hire Hugh Freeze. Therein lies the complexity of Saban's task. We can look at Golding and O'Brien and conclude that they must be good because Saban hired them. To correctly evaluate the situation we have to consider that if Saban had his way Sark and Pruitt would still be coordinators. So he's not hiring who he wants, he's hiring who he is able to hire. There's a big difference.
I covered Golding but I always saw O'Brien as a short term hire anyway, so struggles in the red zone or not he's going to land a head coaching job again sooner or later. I think it's reasonable to consider his potential replacements. I will add that O'Brien can correct the red zone issues, but either way he's not going to be a long term offensive coordinator. Golding on the other hand, I think short of his finding the 2011 Alabama defense in his back pocket will be up for replacement this offseason. So that brings me to who the replacements would actually be?
I'd put Pruitt at the top of the DC list but he's also potentially on a do not hire list. Who else is out there that would be strong considerations on defense? For me the standard was always that you ran a successful Power 5 defense, and that's one thing Golding was missing. He'd had some success before but he'd never had to face off against elite offenses either. So who that might be available has the right resume?
On the offensive side, Kiffin and Sark both had issues that lead them to fall into Alabama's lap. Hugh Freeze had issues so bad Saban wasn't allowed to hire him. Who would be the right guy? It might be one of those things where you have to wait and see who has a job at the end of the year. I would like to think Saban is already pondering the possibilities though and thought I might as well but I have to confess there are not a lot of names that come to mind.
The scoring defense has become worse every season since 2017. The end result is Golding's current defense is tied for the worst of the Saban era with the 2007 team, but he has also overseen the third worst (2020), fourth worst (2019) and sixth worst (2018). Only the 2014 defense crashes the party with the fifth worst scoring defense. I should note that 2018 Golding was co-DC so you can ponder if that defense would have been better or worse if it was his sole responsibility.
Some might argue that the game is changing and that accounts for the higher point totals. Let me put it another way. Since Saban arrived at Alabama the defense has ranked outside of the top 10 in scoring defense only five times. Four of those times Golding has been the defensive coordinator. The fifth time was Nick Saban's first season at Alabama. Alabama was a top 10 defense every single year from 2008-2017 and has not been a top 10 defense once since Golding arrived. To me the blame clearly lies on his shoulders. He took what appeared easy for Alabama and made it impossible.
Having arrived to the conclusion that Golding is clearly not doing his job well, that doesn't make the task of replacing him easy does it? The obvious replacement for him is potentially in NCAA trouble. While I would point out that hiring Pruitt would technically do no more than irritate the NCAA, Saban might not even be allowed to hire Pruitt in the same way he wasn't allowed to hire Hugh Freeze. Therein lies the complexity of Saban's task. We can look at Golding and O'Brien and conclude that they must be good because Saban hired them. To correctly evaluate the situation we have to consider that if Saban had his way Sark and Pruitt would still be coordinators. So he's not hiring who he wants, he's hiring who he is able to hire. There's a big difference.
I covered Golding but I always saw O'Brien as a short term hire anyway, so struggles in the red zone or not he's going to land a head coaching job again sooner or later. I think it's reasonable to consider his potential replacements. I will add that O'Brien can correct the red zone issues, but either way he's not going to be a long term offensive coordinator. Golding on the other hand, I think short of his finding the 2011 Alabama defense in his back pocket will be up for replacement this offseason. So that brings me to who the replacements would actually be?
I'd put Pruitt at the top of the DC list but he's also potentially on a do not hire list. Who else is out there that would be strong considerations on defense? For me the standard was always that you ran a successful Power 5 defense, and that's one thing Golding was missing. He'd had some success before but he'd never had to face off against elite offenses either. So who that might be available has the right resume?
On the offensive side, Kiffin and Sark both had issues that lead them to fall into Alabama's lap. Hugh Freeze had issues so bad Saban wasn't allowed to hire him. Who would be the right guy? It might be one of those things where you have to wait and see who has a job at the end of the year. I would like to think Saban is already pondering the possibilities though and thought I might as well but I have to confess there are not a lot of names that come to mind.
