In the NIL world high school recruiting is only phase one. The big money is being spent on the transfers and Bama hasn't exactly been killing it there.
Nick Saban retiring
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
In the NIL world high school recruiting is only phase one. The big money is being spent on the transfers and Bama hasn't exactly been killing it there.
Urban is too far removed at this point. He think he would end up being a giant flop.
Bama isn't the job that everyone thinks it is. Yes, they have SEC money and a stupid crazy fan base but in the NIL world they are going to struggle. Saban was playing the NIL game before it wasn't an NCAA violation and he's retiring because the filed has been leveled.
This didn't used to be the case but with the NIL anyone good enough to be in the NFL would likely go. The allure of teaching "college" kids is over with all of the **** going on now. Add in the BS conference realignment drama and the rest of the shenanigans, you might as well be dealing with professionals and be in a completely professional setting.
Alabama is one of the top 5 college football jobs in the game, the school sits in the best recruiting area of the country, they have the name recognition to go out and get kids from any part of the country and are getting SEC money.
No coach is going to go there and win 6 national championships, but you could win a few, which would be draw to many coaches to go there. Saban was unique in that he loved recruiting and coaching the kids when they got there, many coaches cannot do both, Saban was one of the few that could and he did not play favorites, if you are a great player, he played you until someone came along that was better.
He wants that B1G win record. I think he is fairly close. To lazy to verify.
He's old and running things at the level he did takes a LOT of work.
He was consistently excellent in recognizing talented coaches to bring on board and having a solid replacement list ready as he knew he would only have them for 2-4 years if he was selecting the right guys. He also recruited incredibly well. Lot's of highly rated players never pan out (TAMU) but Saban has rarely had that issue. For years QB was Bama's weakness but he's had that largely figured out for the last 10 years. In terms of building and managing an organizing nobody has done it better than Saban.
But yes, few jobs are what they think they are. After all we are talking about Tuscaloosa. Alabama...hardly a crown jewel in terms of college towns or livability. It has it's name and is in the fertile recruiting bed of the south, but the level of expectations following Saban will likely deter many. Sark, for example, has no reason to leave Austin. Better school, better city, more money, and less expectations (yes Texas has lofty expectations but that pales in comparison to following Saban at Bama).
Bama will largely have the choice of who they want but it's not the best job out there. Saban would have won wherever he went. Bama was simply lucky that they were able to get him (as was LSU...turned their entire program around).
I'd disagree on top 5. Top 10 job, but Texas, Michigan, Ohio State, Georgia, and Florida are better jobs, all things considered. You could possibly add USC to the mix.
Tuscaloosa isn't exactly a place I'd like to lay my hat. Bama was just extremely fortunate to land the best coach in the game at exactly the right time. If given he resources he wanted he could have turned us into a power. He was that good.
The Jimbo that just got canned at aTm? No way Bama hires him.IMO.
For sure if your Bama you should make a call. But I would be 100% floored if he left.
Michigan and Ohio State are cold weather cities neither with the recruiting of local talent like that of the location of Alabama. From its location it can recruit from Florida, Georgia, to Texas.
I have never been to Tuscaloosa, but I really doubt it's any worse than many of the other college towns, other than Austin, which is unique in its own right.
You are forgetting that the record that Saban broke for most national championship's was also held be a former Alabama coach, so it's not like they had no football history before Saban got there.
I guess I don't get the Dan Lanning hype. In the NIL day-and-age he has a seemingly endless supply of money to spend on recruits/transfers and lose to Washington twice, which involved a few questionable coaching decisions, and can't make the playoff. Seems like alot of his hype came around them beating an awful Colorado team and having a few soundbites.
Yes, by teams who need to upgrade their rosters.
Alabama can be selective and fill a specific need or just get depth pieces. Georgia does the same thing.
Off the top of my head they got their leading receiver this year from Georgia and Jahmyr Gibbs from GT last year. Who is killing it for the Lions now.
I definitely agree with you now that NIL and the professionalizing of CFB makes college football head coach an even harder job than it was
But I would argue NFL jobs have always been better gigs than CFB head coaches. Maybe not for everyone, but for 90% of successful head coaches. It’s the pinnacle of the sport. There’s no bigger prize than the Super Bowl. It’s why great head coaches like Bill Walsh, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Spurrier, Jim Harbaugh (x2 likely), Pete Carroll, Saban himself, and many more left CFB to go to the NFL.
I don’t believe there are any examples of successful NFL coaches going to CFB. The ones that voluntarily moved from an NFL gig to college were on the precipice of getting fired for performance (Saban/Dolphins), management was getting tired of them (Harbaugh/49ers), or the team’s superstar was embroiled in controversy (Petrino/Falcons)
I agree in general, but...
Demeco Ryans is from Birmingham (Jess Lanier H.S. in Bessemer) and was a star player @ Alabama (2002-5), so I am sure he would at least listen if called.
As for Vrabel, he would be interesting. Can he bring Derrick Henry back with him?
That being said, going from the NFL to 'Bama is not unprecedented:
Ray Perkins left the NY Giants to replace Bryant in 1983.
Gene Stallings had been the Cardinals HC (until he was fired) before he went to 'Bama to replace Curry in 1990.
Saban left the Dolphins to replace Mike Shula in 2007.
Different world now, I know, but it has happened three times @ Alabama in the Post-Bryant Era. Two of the three had 'Bama / Bryant ties (Perkins played for Alabama in the '60s and Stallings played for Bryant @ Texas A&M in the '50s). Saban just saw a gold-mine ready to be re-tapped.
FWIW, Saban is going to be involved in the process, and I think whoever is chosen will defintiely have some kind of NFL flavor with which Saban is familiar and likes. Just thought of another: Jedd Fisch from Arizona who has deep NFL coaching (as an assistant) roots AND CFB HC experience (Arizona). My new leader in the club house!
Seriously, I have no idea. They'll probably choose somebody really obscure.
I think we posted at the same time (see my post above regarding Saban).I agree in general, but...
Demeco Ryans is from Birmingham (Jess Lanier H.S. in Bessemer) and was a star player @ Alabama (2002-5), so I am sure he would at least listen if called.
As for Vrabel, he would be interesting. Can he bring Derrick Henry back with him?
That being said, going from the NFL to 'Bama is not unprecedented:
Ray Perkins left the NY Giants to replace Bryant in 1983.
Gene Stallings had been the Cardinals HC (until he was fired) before he went to 'Bama to replace Curry in 1990.
Saban left the Dolphins to replace Mike Shula in 2007.
Different world now, I know, but it has happened three tiems @ Alabama in the Post-Bryant Era.
FWIW, Saban is going to be involved in the process, and I think whoever is chosen will defintiely have some kind of NFL flavor with which Saban is familiar and likes. Just thought of another: Jedd Fisch from Arizona who has deep NFL coaching (as an assistant) roots AND CFB HC experience (Arizona). My new leader in the club house!
Seriously, I have no idea. They'll probably choose somebody really obscure.
I’ll have to look into Ray Perkins. He was little before my time
Bama will be an interesting test case for a blue blood team with a recent dynasty now facing a change in leadership. Saban is probably the GOAT, and he built a machine on process and culture. Will that stay intact?
On paper, they are one of two P5 teams in their state. Geographically they are bookended by two state schools (Ole Miss) and (UGA) who have NIL war chests and youngish captivating coaches. Their instate rival recruits at a high level and has won a championship in this century. LSU, FSU, and Tennessee aren’t far down the road either.
They have a massive athletics budget but a smaller endowment ($1.1B) than ISU ($1.3B). But if endowment was everything then Stanford and UVA would be in the title game every year.
IMO, it will be critical for them to make the right hire ASAP. The impact of losing multiple blue chip recruits or transfers will set the incumbent back. Maybe they pick up right where they left off and keep rolling. Or there may be some 7 win seasons on the horizon. If that happens are the boosters patient enough to let the next guy build it back up?
On paper, they are one of two P5 teams in their state. Geographically they are bookended by two state schools (Ole Miss) and (UGA) who have NIL war chests and youngish captivating coaches. Their instate rival recruits at a high level and has won a championship in this century. LSU, FSU, and Tennessee aren’t far down the road either.
They have a massive athletics budget but a smaller endowment ($1.1B) than ISU ($1.3B). But if endowment was everything then Stanford and UVA would be in the title game every year.
IMO, it will be critical for them to make the right hire ASAP. The impact of losing multiple blue chip recruits or transfers will set the incumbent back. Maybe they pick up right where they left off and keep rolling. Or there may be some 7 win seasons on the horizon. If that happens are the boosters patient enough to let the next guy build it back up?
That's always been a bogus selling point. Most NFL cities are "colder weather cities" and almost every kid being recruited to ANY of these schools has NFL aspirations. Being able to sell a kid on Ann Arbor (infinitely better college town than Tuscaloosa) with proximity to Detroit (activities) shouldn't be that hard.
If anything it's EASIER to recruit the southern kids as the NIL makes it easier for their families to come watch them play. That was always a big advantage for the regional schools as those kids wanted to be closer to home as (many) came from poor families. That's no longer the issue with the NIL.
Recruiting to Michigan, Columbus, LA, Athens, and Austin isn't a problem. Assuming each school has the SAME resources (for staff and facilities), where would YOU want to live? Recency bias aside, Bama isn't a better place than those schools.
This is always the key. For any school.
At the time Meyer left Florida, it looked like a "better job" than Alabama (more recent success). Carroll left USC in great shape. The list goes on. Outside of the rare fluke (Cheesedick getting Newton who never should have been eligible), it's always been about a capable school having the right coach at the right time. Dabo at Clemson. Carroll at USC. The list goes on.
There is nothing appreciable or substantial that makes Bama a top 5 job other than history, which is mostly limited to 2 coaches (Bryant and Saban).