What makes a coach "good"? What makes a coach "great"? IMO, what separates good and great coaches from average and bad coaches isn't how they do when they've got the best talent on the field, everybody's healthy and everything is stacked in their favor. It's how they do when those conditions don't exist. When "you" don't have the best players on the field, can you get your guys to play above their talent and experience level? That to me is what separates good/great coaching from average coaching. However, I will disclose and have disclosed in other threads that it does get to a point that injuries and lack of experience etc can't be overcome and you just have what you have. But it's not an either or. It's not that simple. I think our DC gets a pass to some degree because of the injuries and having to play youth etc., but not a 100%. I'm sorry, I've been involved in sports too long to accept that across the board. For several years now it's been discussed AND pointed out in your analysis that we have a development problem with some areas of our team that points to coaching. Whether it be on the Oline, FG kicking, DL etc. This isn't something new. Saturday, yes there were times it was obvious the busted coverage or mistakes were player related. But then there were a lot of times that it wasn't a mistake by the players, but rather a simple case of our DC being out schemed by the other team's OC. Hell, Danielson pointed out several times the play LSU ran was the perfect play for the defensive alignment we showed them. It didn't matter which players we had on the field in those cases. Their play selection was superior to our defensive play selection. Which tells me they knew our tendencies more than we knew theirs. Sounds a lot like the Clemson game.I addressed the bolded section above in the original analysis. Yes, Alabama did get off the mat in the second half and for that it should be commended.
I'm talking about the bigger picture of flailing against top teams. This has become a trend. The defense has not controlled any of Alabama's last four games that meant anything (LSU '19, Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia). In those four games, you had two teams get big leads in the first half, another (OU) outscored Alabama 34-24 in the final three quarters (side note: I *hate* "won the second half/won the last quarter" stuff because it's not always relevant, but I'll walk through that door you opened just this once) and in the fourth game, we're down two scores and only Jalen Hurts turning into Superman won that game, with UGA still throwing into the end zone on the final play.
Point being, the recruiting has been too good for this to be happening, unless the guys we're signing really aren't that good and they're just getting the "Bama bump" from recruiting services that rival fans always accuse us of getting. Or, they're not being developed. Or, the scheme is a bad fit (I'm about to respond to Major 42's post and will expound on that thought more there).
And remember, three of those games I just listed involved Quinnen Williams, Dylan Moses and Mack Wilson on the field. It's not just a 2019 problem.
Are we making too much of a single loss? Maybe, but the system is what it is and if you don't go undefeated every year, your path to a championship is difficult (and really, that's all we play for around here, spoiled as we may be).
But I will end on this, we don't need any more turnover at DC or any other coordinator position. I hope Golding is retained as well as Sark. We NEED stability. We also need for coaches to put as much emphasis on THEIR development and improvement as the players. Because when that happens, the players' development improves as well.
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