Looking like the following for assistants...

At this point, my only real concern with the new hires is Butch Jones's potential position. I would prefer CNS offer him an off the field position in operations. At first I was not excited about the return of Sunseri, but upon further review have overturned by decision.

I feel good about most of these hires. Some I'm more excited about than others. I do have some concern about the DC situation though but hopefully Charles Kelly will bring a little bit of Pruitt back to our defense.

I think the biggest upside is we seem to have brought in coaches who will know the system and the work required to fit in here. A bunch of our hires either worked for CNS previously or worked for coaches who have worked for CNS. So, they really should be better suited than all of the new guys last year.

Honestly, Sark might be my favorite hire.

Ole Man Dan said:

After watching the game a couple of times,
I understand why we had to replace
a bunch of assistant coaches.

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Yeah you could see several of the assistant coaches were in over their heads, especially on defense, throughout the latter part of the season. You knew when they were about to get burned for a big play on defense by the players being all over the place trying to get in the right positions.

Against poor opposition it didn't hurt us to much but as the competition got progressively stronger at the end it became glaring. By the fourth quarter against Clemson you could see the team was beat and had quit. Never thought I would see a Bama team during coach Saban's reign quit but they did, they knew they were beat and I don't put that at the feet of coach Saban.

He knew heads were about to roll when the season was over I believe, even before the playoffs. Player confidence starts with the coaches and if not for Jalen Hurts heroics against Georgia, Bama doesn't win the SEC championship. Jalens experience, leadership and confidence showed then when the teams confidence was on the verge of collapse just like what happened against Clemson. Superior talent has carried the team for the most part in spite of lack of cohesive coaching with coach Saban being the X factor. Sometimes that has been all that was needed to win it all...sometimes not.

Ole Man Dan said:

Then there was Tua... Brent Venables studied his tendencies and Brent called a heck of a game.
Brent had the answer and had taught their Defense what Tua was likely to do in most cases.

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I agree and I put that totally on the coaches. Tua is an incredibly talented QB, but he's not Tom Brady. He needs coaching and he needs the coaches to call the right plays. That didn't happen. As you stated, we passed when we should have run the ball, and we ran (often with the wrong RB) when we should have passed. Poor play calling - primarily in the redzone - and the inability to adjust made for a poor offensive performance.

The same can be said for defense. We looked confused and were often out of position. Poor coaching and no adjustments in the 2nd half were killers.

For those reasons, I'm thrilled to see some of the changes to the coaching staff. That was the critical factor against Clemson - we got out coached.

mlh said:

I agree and I put that totally on the coaches. Tua is an incredibly talented QB, but he's not Tom Brady. He needs coaching and he needs the coaches to call the right plays. That didn't happen. As you stated, we passed when we should have run the ball, and we ran (often with the wrong RB) when we should have passed. Poor play calling - primarily in the redzone - and the inability to adjust made for a poor offensive performance.

The same can be said for defense. We looked confused and were often out of position. Poor coaching and no adjustments in the 2nd half were killers.

For those reasons, I'm thrilled to see some of the changes to the coaching staff. That was the critical factor against Clemson - we got out coached.

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He isn’t Brady ( I don’t think many can say they are close to Brady), but Tua could probably take a lesson from Brady in that check downs can be better options than home run balls.

81usaf92 said:

He isn’t Brady ( I don’t think many can say they are close to Brady), but Tua could probably take a lesson from Brady in that check downs can be better options than home run balls.

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Yeah, I was thinking the same exact thing watching the game last Sunday.

I think the biggest concern was that of in-game adjustments. It’s one thing when something isn’t working and you tell them to fix. It’s another when they don’t see it in the first place and then can’t fix it. In the past we’ve had coaches that would have a bad first half but at halftime they could see what was wrong and they could fix it. I’m not sure all of the coaches this year even knew why thing were or were not working. Just a guess but judging from Saban’s lack of frustration on the sidelines during the championship game I’m thinking he was well into “gotta fix this mode”.


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81usaf92 said:

He isn’t Brady ( I don’t think many can say they are close to Brady), but Tua could probably take a lesson from Brady in that check downs can be better options than home run balls.

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I expect this will be Tua's biggest evolving next year. I wonder if at times last year he got a little "bored" against some of our weaker competition and he started making some harder throws when the easier ones were available? His maturity will help him start seeing there's no need to force something when someone else is wide open (like 2nd INT against Clemson when ISJ was WIDE open).

RedWave said:

Am I the only one who isn't excited at all about this coaching staff this year? I guess it doesn't matter whether I am or not, since I was excited with last year's and they were disappointing (if you can call a one loss team disappointing). I think my issues are 1) Sarkisian, who worries me, and 2) Butch Jones, who is just Butch Jones. Not mention the lack of a splash hire at DC. Not trying to be an Eeyore. I know Saban knows best and will put together the best staff possible and we would be fine even with lesser coaches, probably.

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I feel better about the staff as it stands today than I did about the one we finished the season with. Enos and Gattis were absolute busts, IMO, no matter how "talented" they seemed to be. Good riddance is how I feel about those two.

TideEngineer08 said:

I feel better about the staff as it stands today than I did about the one we finished the season with. Enos and Gattis were absolute busts, IMO, no matter how "talented" they seemed to be. Good riddance is how I feel about those two.

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See. I disagree about Enos. I think we whiffed there.

RedWave said:

See. I disagree about Enos. I think we whiffed there.

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How did we whiff when Coach Saban walks into a staff meeting, expecting Enos to be present, and finds out the weasel cleared out his office and left in the middle of the night?

TideEngineer08 said:

How did we whiff when Coach Saban walks into a staff meeting, expecting Enos to be present, and finds out the weasel cleared out his office and left in the middle of the night?

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I think Enos was in large part the reason Hurts progressed so much. He has talent, he just obviously did not fit in well with Alabama's culture.

TideEngineer08 said:

I feel better about the staff as it stands today than I did about the one we finished the season with. Enos and Gattis were absolute busts, IMO, no matter how "talented" they seemed to be. Good riddance is how I feel about those two.

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Their exits might have shown something about their character, but I don't think we can say Enos or Gattis were busts based on the production of their respective groups.

RTR91 said:

Their exits might have shown something about their character, but I don't think we can say Enos or Gattis were busts based on the production of their respective groups.

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That's my point when I say no matter how "talented" they may be. Yes of course they have ability. But the ability is worthless when it is tied to such a personality.

I really do believe that Enos knew he was going to be leaving, and of course, Locksley knew he was as well. With that in mind, there simply wasn't enough prep, and the other guys around them didn't pick up the slack. That showed in the Clemson game primarily, but showed in the 2nd half against OU as well. OU just didn't have the defense to stop our greatest offensive team we have had in memory.
So, a 14-0 team that was a machine at different times this year failed in it's biggest game, against the best opponent we played. It was a huge disappointment, and it might not have prevented a loss anyway, but not that way. Saban really needed to have a house cleaning. I expect each and every player position to be up for grabs come spring, except maybe QB and some of the wideouts. Lines are going to be re-jiggered, RB will be a true competition, and DB's will absolutely be up for challenge. Kicker.....well, do I even need to mention how open that starting spot will be?

All of this is avoided if we had beaten Clemson convincingly. A bare-win, still we would have seen big changes to player positions and at defensive coaching roles.

BamaMoon said:

I expect this will be Tua's biggest evolving next year. I wonder if at times last year he got a little "bored" against some of our weaker competition and he started making some harder throws when the easier ones were available? His maturity will help him start seeing there's no need to force something when someone else is wide open (like 2nd INT against Clemson when ISJ was WIDE open).

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IIRC, the reason Tua didn’t start his freshman year at all was ball security and holding it too long. He was prone to:
Sacks and subsequent fumbles
Forcing throws that turned into interceptions
The CG showed he hasn’t fully overcome those tendencies, but his year long performance (with a few exceptions) lulled some into thinking he had.


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TideEngineer08 said:

How did we whiff when Coach Saban walks into a staff meeting, expecting Enos to be present, and finds out the weasel cleared out his office and left in the middle of the night?

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Because we wanted him to stay and he chose to leave. I am certain he knew we wanted him to stay as well. The guy may not be the best character, but he did a really good job for us, especially with Jalen.

I have mixed feelings about Enos and Gattis. Of all the guys leaving, those two seemed to have been good additions and for most of the season to have done their jobs well. The way things ended though, that clouds their entire time here. They weren't hired to be really good and focused most of the season, they were hired to help Alabama win a championship and ultimately they failed to do that and bailed the first chance they got. I also, like many liked the coach Kool hire, but that went sideways.

So, how can I be upset they left? It's like Daboll, I warmed him to him for about half of one game then he wanted to go back to sucking in the NFL. Alright, see you...

I am not at all worried about Sark's performance in terms of on-field coaching. He's a proven professional, tremendous track record with QBs (makes Enos look like a lightweight), the only thing is off-field stuff and if he keeps that in check he'll do a great job. His resume blows away Enos, Gattis, Daboll, and Locksley's.

The rest of the staff, there's a lot of people that have done well elsewhere there. Less fliers on young guys and more proven guys. I think some people are far too hard on Kelly, who I honestly think might be a better DC than Golding. Once he settled down in Florida St. he did a fine job, and their defense fell 50 spots (20 to 70) after they brought in new coaches, indicating he was actually doing a solid job relative to the talent he had (and other distractions). He clearly is more competent at running a defense than Tosh, so if that's his role it will be an upgrade.

Butch Jones, I'm not sure what his role will be, but the guy was a successful head coach. He also dramatically improved Central Michigan's offense once he took over there. You don't get to be head coach of at a major university without being good at something.

Huff? Feels kind of like that Gattis hire last year. You just have to hope he's more willing to stay put.

Sunseri, we know he can do the job, he's already done the job.

Flood? He was an offensive line coach at 5 different stops. He was basically promoted from offensive line coach to head coach, it is hard to imagine that happens unless you're a heck of an offensive line coach.

That staff seems to be coming together in a more purposeful way than last year. Last year it played out like a combination of hire from within (promoting two guys to coordinator roles), and try to get good recruiters and see where they fit. This year, there's a lot of experience, we're talking about 3 former head coaches, it feels like a staff that's less likely to have issues when they hit bumps in the road.

twofbyc said:

IIRC, the reason Tua didn’t start his freshman year at all was ball security and holding it too long. He was prone to:
Sacks and subsequent fumbles
Forcing throws that turned into interceptions
The CG showed he hasn’t fully overcome those tendencies, but his year long performance (with a few exceptions) lulled some into thinking he had.


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I think the experience Tua got this year will have huge dividends next year. Especially the way the season ended. He got injured, then watched his backup put together two scoring drives to win the SECCG. He finished 2nd in the Heisman race, after being the front-runner all year. Then he struggled in the NCG and the limelight shined on the opposing QB. That's a pretty humbling experience. Should help build character, help him to understand that fame and glory are fleeting, and put some fire in his belly to finish strong next year.

TideEngineer08 said:

How did we whiff when Coach Saban walks into a staff meeting, expecting Enos to be present, and finds out the weasel cleared out his office and left in the middle of the night?

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I'm not saying this is the best way to handle it but I remember reading that Enos called Byrne that night to let him know he was leaving. Byrne didn't answer and Enos left a voicemail. That's why Enos was able to put out the statement that he would never leave without informing his employer. His informing Alabama was leaving a voicemail to Byrne at midnight. He should have called or contacted Saban directly but it does sound like he notified UA of his departure. Again, not how I would have done it and certainly not the best way..