Steele and Rees. Rees and Steele. Look, there’s nothing particularly egregious about either hire; both have done competent work. And Alabama is loaded with talent, so it’s not like they’re going to lead to a four-loss season. It’s just that I share Bill Connelly’s take on the two hires.
Okay, but not elite, isn’t the way to go after Kirby Smart and Georgia’s run, so we’ll see if Saban’s drive is enough to push the ‘Bama program back to where the fan base wants to be.
That being said, I think this offseason has put the stake through the “Saban can hire anybody he wants, ’cause Saban” narrative. We’ve already heard reports that Rees was his third choice, and it’s likely that a similar story applies to Steele (although in that case, I’m guessing that Saban was told by the conference he couldn’t hire his first choice without serious repercussions). Like I said, these two may work out fine, but it feels like a little glamour has fallen from the program.
On a related note, here are the 2022 stats for Alabama’s receivers and Notre Dame’s receivers. Does anybody want to tell Jermaine Burton?
Get The Picture 
My guess is, at some point, the Pruitt situation will clear and he will be added as an analyst to the staff
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Would a show cause apply to an analyst?
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Well, Jermaine was his teams leading receiver. Mission accomplished I guess?
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Who?
😉
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I thought Pruitt was a shoo in for the dc gig. I assumed since Hugh freeze got the auburn job all transgressions had been absolved. I guess it’s true what they say when you
ass u me.
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Sleeze served his time in the show cause penalty box and didn’t get in trouble again.
I’m not sure Pruitt has received his punishment from the SEC or the NCAA at this point.
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In fact, I think Pruitt is actively fighting/disputing the NCAA charges because he wants his buyout from 10RC; they are refusing to pay him claiming he was terminated for cause….
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I’ll bet he left a nasty mess in that penalty box.
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I’ll never forget how Pruitt was #1 on the board to replace Saban, should/if he retire. #1. Big deal made of how they were constantly planning and looking forward and were constantly evaluating who the right coach was for the Crimson Tide.
With that said, do believe Pruitt is a fine DC and there may have been enough learnings from UTjr. for him to be a much better coach 2nd time around. I would imagine that until that investigation is finalized, that he is off the shelf in the SEC and most schools. All of that needs to be defined, so that there is a scale to weigh him against verses others.
The school knew what he was doing and basically used it to get rid of him. College football is a ‘nasty’ business.
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Does JP strike you as a person who learns from their personal mistakes?
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The Decline is almost as enjoyable to witness as the Dawgs’ ascent.
Almost.
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The thing is the Bammers don’t see it. They truly believe Saban will be winning championships into his 80s. Bama entitlement is real.
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Until recruiting falls off, I doubt that they’ll see it. They were Metchie and Williams away from a natty in 2021 (at least in their eyes) and their 2020 team was pretty damn special. The Bama fans I knew blamed 2022 on the two coordinators and now that they are gone and they had the #1 recruiting class they feel like all is right in the world again.
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They can blame O’Brien all they want, but the 2 games they lost were because of their defense. That has to eat at Saban every day.
Who in the early 2010s would have ever thought Nick Saban would stake his success on the position most likely to deal with injuries – wide receiver?
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Very true. Saban’s teams were characterized by defense, ball control, limiting penalties and possessions, and running the ball with big, bruising backs until the defense was exhausted and dejected. Not so much, now.
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Disciplined, complementary football … where have I seen that recently? 😉
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It’s almost as if that philosophy was never his and he somehow managed to allow it to leave town. 🤔
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I’m not painting the end of the Saban era yet, but he is clearly on the back side of his career at this point. I still don’t see how the members of this recruiting class could believe he will be there for the entire time of their time at Alabama (other than his contract).
Definitely the people he is trying to hire don’t believe he’s going to be there for the long term.
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the money in those top recruits bank account will be there long after Saban retires and in the era if they don’t like the coach then they gone.
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At 71, it’s hard for him to not be on the back end of his career regardless of on field results.
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Father Time is undefeated. Some commenters here who wallowed in the “we’re never going to win one until Saban retires” have to be kicking themselves.
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The last 2 seasons have been very telling for Saban and his luster. I typed it after we won our 1st recent championship that cracks were forming in the Saban foundation and that he would be retiring “relatively” soon. Kirby’s and UGA’s “re-“ascension will be the tipping point for the goat to retire. No knock on his accomplishments, he is and has been a phenomenal coach. But his ego is larger than a Chinese spy balloon, and it’s too big to allow the light to shine on the Dawgs too. Another year of Bama not being in the playoffs might be more than Little Nicky can bare…let’s hope we have a hand at keeping Bama home during the playoffs.
Go Dawgs
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Saw a graphic that had Steele as Sabans last DC (2007) before Smart and he went something like 6-7 plus had to vacate a bunch of wins & wound up 2-6
Next year he hired Smart and went 12-2 .
So maybe there is some fact to the power behind the throne after all……
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Smart and the strength coach took 2 of the legs out of saban 3 legged stool
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I think that has less to do with Steele and more to do with the fact that 2007 was Saban’s first year at Bama. Most coaches experience a bump in year 2. From 2008 onward they haven’t won fewer than 10 games a season.
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2nd year bump yes. But Lord Saban upped that to a title in year three; that was year two with Smart. After that, it was in like Donkey Kong. And since Smarts exodus from Tuzcalooza, we have witnessed an ever so be it, slow decline in dominance and the air of invincibility. If we are honest we can admit that there has been some chunks showing in the armor. Methinks this season will be telling one way or the other for Saban and his disciples.
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Two other items that I’ve ran across in the last two days;
Steele gave up 70 points to WV; that’s bad in any world.
AND
Last year he let a ranked Miami team lose to Middle Tennessee; a major team like Miami should never lose to a Sunbelt team but he surrendered 45.
He may have learned, but those facts remain.
Hiring Steele has all the ear marks if
“We just need a warm body.”
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Then MTSU promptly lost three in a row .
Miami may have been an anomaly, but damn that don’t look good at all.
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Those are all valid points and I agree that he seems like a lackluster hire. The purpose of my initial post wasn’t to defend Steele or to take away from Smart’s impact on Bama’s defense. I’m just saying that there were other variables to take into account as well and it’s difficult to assess Steele’s performance on Year 1 results alone. He’s had plenty of other stops along his career that would make him look like a good, but not great, defensive coordinator.
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Agree 100%
But it’s Bama so I’m purposefully referencing any negatives I can find. Hurst because.
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We are about to find out how much resolve Saban has to put burn the midnight oil he’ll have to burn to stay elite. Feels like we’re about to witness Saban’s last stand.
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I agree. He could win another one this season, we don’t know. It’s kind of like watching the last five minutes of “Friday the 13th.” We know Jason Voorhees is gonna pop up outta that lake at some point.
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The jury is still out on Pruitt. Slow rolling his sentencing may be part of the penalty.
Everyone can see the end is near for Saban. Time is undefeated even the GOAT will yield at some point. Who would want to be part the last dance at Bama.
Kevin Steele is probably is still hoping for a chance at HC. Fixing Bama’s defense offers a better path than the U.
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You forgot to mention how Saban’s drive is now on steroids after Pollack crowned UGA in the former king’s face, at least according to the experts. Although as has been reported post-natty ad nauseam, even Kirby knows how to strategically use fake juice.
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Pretty amusing that SABAN REVENGE TOUR, THE REVENGE FOR THE FIRST REVENGE TOUR is starting out with
1) Him looking bemused while Pollack dunked on him at the natty; and
2) A mid-level up-and-coming OC and a retread DC
Bama was soft last year. Outside of a few choice quarters, they were soft in 2021. They needed a come-to-Jesus awakening the way UGA did post-Coley. This ain’t that.
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Steele’s a better hire than Rees on paper, but yeah, it’s not great. His last year at Auburn and first year at Miami weren’t exactly stellar, and his best run was a series of good but not great defenses at Auburn from 2016 to 2019.
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Would be interesting to know the extent to which Steele had a hand in Malzahn’s ouster on the plains. I also imagine that Auburn would be in a much better place if the big money boosters had gotten their wish that Steele replace Malzahn as HC in 2020.
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They couldn’t be any worse off if they’d hired him. I doubt they would have done much better than they did with Malzahn, though.
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Here’s hoping it takes a couple seasons for the new coordinators to get acclimated.
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So, in looking at their schedule, all the tough opponents are at home. If they drop 2 this year, how long before the fire Saban nut jobs come out of the woodwork?
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Welcome to your 1st spring practice #1 ranked recruiting class! Now meet your new #130th ranked coaching staff…now go have a great camp!
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I’m not shoveling dirt on the Saban dynasty just yet, but neither one of these coordinator hires strikes fear into my heart. Steele’s got a pretty good track record overall, but his year with the Hurricanes wasn’t much to write home about. Auburn’s probably got more to be worried about than anyone; between Steele’s resentment at having gotten passed over for their HC job and Saban’s desire to humiliate Auburn (and Freeze in particular) at every opportunity, Bama’s gonna be gunning to hold the Tigers to negative points.
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All I care was that it wasn’t Glen Shuman or Todd Monken.
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Surprised we didn’t send Agent Muschamp to infiltrate and sabotage another SEC program.
Saban too sly, I suppose. The wily old fox.
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Man, it’s going to be awesome watching y’all eat your words when we’re running your asses out of the stadium in next seasons SEC title game. We’re going to be an absolute juggernaut and our receivers won’t all be injured this go around. Get ready mutts, you got a world of hurt coming and we’re going to pour it on. Buckle up
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Hmmm. Why didn’t you just do that the last two years?
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