The rings thing, it's a plus but it's like Saban driving a nice car. You'd hope Alabama gets guys who pay more attention than that, but on the other hand it sure doesn't hurt to give them something shiny to look at.
As far as Kiffin, one reason I haven't ranted and raved about him, and really taken time out to bash him is he really was exactly what one might have expected. There were moments of offensive genius tempered by immaturity and distraction. The way I see it, and this is kind of a fascinating contrast to Daboll, but the way I see it Kiffin got Alabama one NC and probably lost them another.
At the end of 2015 Kiffin was masterful in his playcalling. Alabama cruises to 38 against Michigan St., but the real impressive feat was what Kiffin's offense did against Clemson. Clemson was 13th ranked defense that year, they were not pushovers, and Alabama got into a shootout, putting up 45 points. If anything, that year it was the defense that was ill-prepared and Smart who was distracted. So, the really weird thing about his tenure is the way I see it things kind of evened out. You got the good Kiffin when you had to have a good Kiffin and then you got the bad Kiffin when perhaps even an reasonably competent OC could have gotten the job done.
We can't really tell what Daboll is beyond reliable and trustworthy. His struggles as an offensive coordinator in the NFL were hindered by other factors, and I always felt like even mediocre in the NFL usually translated to good in college as far as coaches go (Saban, Stallings, and Spurrier for instance didn't exactly have a ton of NFL success). The recruiting thing, he's literally never recruited D1 athletes. To say he'd be good or bad as a recruiter is kind of like guessing what type of politician he'd be, how the heck would we know? This is just one of the situations where Saban got what he wants and eventually we'll figure out exactly what that is.