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Putting it here where it can be discussed rather than in story form...
* Subtle brag, but we Tweeted out sort of the Enos deal before it made an "official" story. For those that missed the tweet: We did not expect to lose him, it hurts and it's a setback.
* I don't believe any of the internet rumors out there that "Enos was calling plays in the NC game" or "Golding was calling the defenses late in the year." Locksley and Lupoi were captured on camera, against Clemson, doing exactly what they'd done all year. Locksley had a bad game. Lupoi had a worse game. It happens, except when it happens at Alabama (especially, in Lupoi's case, when it happens more than once), Saban makes changes. Saban helped place Lupoi in Cleveland, he'll probably stay there 2-3 years and then I expect him to go back west, which is what his family prefers. I'll tend to remember him as one of the best recruiters we've ever had here. The DC experiment with him blew up the last month. It is what it is, $.02 to Saban.
* Prediction time, defense: I expect Golding to be the DC or at least a co-DC. Saban likes him a lot. I wasn't really floored by the ILB position coaching this year but coordinating a defense is almost a different skill set. Lupoi, for instance, has done fabulous work with Anfernee Jennings. Of all the rumors circulating, the two I'd give most credence to is Jimmy Lake from Washington and Kevin Steele from Auburn. The DC hires are always harder to peg because while Saban might add a wrinkle or two every year, the base defense is always going to be his 3-4 over/under with his way of playing the secondary, sink or swim. So he's not looking for someone to come in and "take over" the defense like Dave Aranda would (I've heard that rumor, too, but if Aranda comes here he's going to run Saban's defense, I promise you that) as much as he's looking for someone to pair with. Also, Karl Scott will be back if he wants to be. Craig Kuligowski might not be. There is a lot of internal buzz that Kuligowski has been an ill fit in Tuscaloosa. If Kuligowski moves on, at this point most of the speculation has turned to guys with experience here in the past: namely Bo Davis and Lance Thompson. If Thompson is hired it will be for OLB and Bama will have to source a different DL coach. EDIT: Despite Freddie Roach's name coming up every time there's a defensive opening, this time there might actually be fire behind the smoke. We'll see whether this is just another Lucy-pulling-the-football moment but one of our contributors who read this post last night is telling me Roach is indeed in it.
* Prediction time, offense: I was cautious about the Locksley hire last year (mainly because his teams had always had issues with efficiency, which ironically turned out to be the '18 unit's greatest strength). I'm beyond cautious and more wary of the Sarkisian hire *IF* he's going to be in a dual role. Word is starting to leak out that he was hired as a QB coach only (which I have no problem with) and Bama is going to be looking for a WR/OC coach, which are rare but not impossible to find; Locksley was one. The two names we feel confident are really getting a look for that role are Butch Jones and Lance Taylor. Jones has been an OC three times before, just once at a FBS school (Central Michigan, 2001-2003, before Brian Kelly arrived). The results then were poor. If Lance Taylor is the pick, I think Sarkisian will have to serve both QB and OC roles. If both Jones and Taylor are hired, Joe Pannunzio will have to move to an off-field role or coach the OL. Pannunzio has been a Swiss army knife of sorts already; 2018 was the first time he had ever coached RBs and I thought he did a good job. He was OL coach at TCU way back in '90-'91. I think it more likely that Pannunzio would move back to a DFO role of some kind, something he does very well. However, he's also one of Bama's best recruiters and maybe its best closer. The OL coach, in my opinion, will come down to one of three guys: Marcus Johnson at Mississippi State (my favorite), Allen Mogridge at Florida International or Ryan Silverfield at Memphis. EDIT: Kyle Flood's name should probably be added to this list; he's been publicly identified as a candidate already but it appeared Bama was steering in a different direction for awhile. Instead, UA might have looked around and compared other names to Flood's and is now circling back to Flood.
CLARIFICATION ON SARKISIAN/JONES/ETC.: There are some people reading this thinking *WE AT TIDEFANS* are projecting Butch Jones as OC, and we are not. The initial word we received on Sarkisian was that he would be OC/QB. In the last few days, we have heard that might not be the case. I apologize for all the bold/colored text but there are some people who misread the original and are going off on tangents/putting words in my mouth, and that's not something I like to see happen. What we're trying to explain in the above paragraph on the OC is what's going to happen if Sarkisian isn't given the dual role. We have it all but confirmed that Jones is getting a promotion and staying at UA, and Lance Taylor is a strong candidate. So if you bring both of them back and add Sarkisian, too, you're already one coach over the limit AND you have yet to select an OC. And, if Sarkisian is not getting the dual tag, you either are now two coaches over the limit, or you're going to be giving one of the other offensive assistants the OC tag instead. At this point, I would say Sarkisian getting both tags is the most likely outcome.
Putting it here where it can be discussed rather than in story form...
* Subtle brag, but we Tweeted out sort of the Enos deal before it made an "official" story. For those that missed the tweet: We did not expect to lose him, it hurts and it's a setback.
* I don't believe any of the internet rumors out there that "Enos was calling plays in the NC game" or "Golding was calling the defenses late in the year." Locksley and Lupoi were captured on camera, against Clemson, doing exactly what they'd done all year. Locksley had a bad game. Lupoi had a worse game. It happens, except when it happens at Alabama (especially, in Lupoi's case, when it happens more than once), Saban makes changes. Saban helped place Lupoi in Cleveland, he'll probably stay there 2-3 years and then I expect him to go back west, which is what his family prefers. I'll tend to remember him as one of the best recruiters we've ever had here. The DC experiment with him blew up the last month. It is what it is, $.02 to Saban.
* Prediction time, defense: I expect Golding to be the DC or at least a co-DC. Saban likes him a lot. I wasn't really floored by the ILB position coaching this year but coordinating a defense is almost a different skill set. Lupoi, for instance, has done fabulous work with Anfernee Jennings. Of all the rumors circulating, the two I'd give most credence to is Jimmy Lake from Washington and Kevin Steele from Auburn. The DC hires are always harder to peg because while Saban might add a wrinkle or two every year, the base defense is always going to be his 3-4 over/under with his way of playing the secondary, sink or swim. So he's not looking for someone to come in and "take over" the defense like Dave Aranda would (I've heard that rumor, too, but if Aranda comes here he's going to run Saban's defense, I promise you that) as much as he's looking for someone to pair with. Also, Karl Scott will be back if he wants to be. Craig Kuligowski might not be. There is a lot of internal buzz that Kuligowski has been an ill fit in Tuscaloosa. If Kuligowski moves on, at this point most of the speculation has turned to guys with experience here in the past: namely Bo Davis and Lance Thompson. If Thompson is hired it will be for OLB and Bama will have to source a different DL coach. EDIT: Despite Freddie Roach's name coming up every time there's a defensive opening, this time there might actually be fire behind the smoke. We'll see whether this is just another Lucy-pulling-the-football moment but one of our contributors who read this post last night is telling me Roach is indeed in it.
* Prediction time, offense: I was cautious about the Locksley hire last year (mainly because his teams had always had issues with efficiency, which ironically turned out to be the '18 unit's greatest strength). I'm beyond cautious and more wary of the Sarkisian hire *IF* he's going to be in a dual role. Word is starting to leak out that he was hired as a QB coach only (which I have no problem with) and Bama is going to be looking for a WR/OC coach, which are rare but not impossible to find; Locksley was one. The two names we feel confident are really getting a look for that role are Butch Jones and Lance Taylor. Jones has been an OC three times before, just once at a FBS school (Central Michigan, 2001-2003, before Brian Kelly arrived). The results then were poor. If Lance Taylor is the pick, I think Sarkisian will have to serve both QB and OC roles. If both Jones and Taylor are hired, Joe Pannunzio will have to move to an off-field role or coach the OL. Pannunzio has been a Swiss army knife of sorts already; 2018 was the first time he had ever coached RBs and I thought he did a good job. He was OL coach at TCU way back in '90-'91. I think it more likely that Pannunzio would move back to a DFO role of some kind, something he does very well. However, he's also one of Bama's best recruiters and maybe its best closer. The OL coach, in my opinion, will come down to one of three guys: Marcus Johnson at Mississippi State (my favorite), Allen Mogridge at Florida International or Ryan Silverfield at Memphis. EDIT: Kyle Flood's name should probably be added to this list; he's been publicly identified as a candidate already but it appeared Bama was steering in a different direction for awhile. Instead, UA might have looked around and compared other names to Flood's and is now circling back to Flood.
CLARIFICATION ON SARKISIAN/JONES/ETC.: There are some people reading this thinking *WE AT TIDEFANS* are projecting Butch Jones as OC, and we are not. The initial word we received on Sarkisian was that he would be OC/QB. In the last few days, we have heard that might not be the case. I apologize for all the bold/colored text but there are some people who misread the original and are going off on tangents/putting words in my mouth, and that's not something I like to see happen. What we're trying to explain in the above paragraph on the OC is what's going to happen if Sarkisian isn't given the dual role. We have it all but confirmed that Jones is getting a promotion and staying at UA, and Lance Taylor is a strong candidate. So if you bring both of them back and add Sarkisian, too, you're already one coach over the limit AND you have yet to select an OC. And, if Sarkisian is not getting the dual tag, you either are now two coaches over the limit, or you're going to be giving one of the other offensive assistants the OC tag instead. At this point, I would say Sarkisian getting both tags is the most likely outcome.
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