Random Thoughts

Ok, let's have that heart to heart here guys...

Coaching Changes

In the last month, Bama has lost 2 coaches and 2 players that could have came back for 2009. While that does hurt to a degree, this is a part of football as is. With the competition and paychecks mounting year by year, the chances of keeping a solid staff in tact for long is unrealistic. Saban's staffs over the years have never been in tact for long and there always seems to be a couple that leave every year or 2. That's part of having a successful coach really and it causes gas to fans who got used to the same coaches hanging around during the Shula years, but the ends justify the means.

If you really think on it, and this is for those asking why he would go to UT, why wouldn't he? He was getting under payed compared to many on the Bama staff and other staffs being assembled when it got down to it. He can recruit the panties off a nun and coach them back up when he's done, no question. Don't think so, just check 2008's class (and 09) and look at how improved Fanney and Reamer were http://alabama.rivals.com/viewcoach.asp?Year=2008&Sport=1&Coach=968. The flip side, and this is something fans miss sometime, is that he bounces around from place to place. He's been to Bama 2x, Tech 2x, had a cup of coffee with LSU and UCF along the way too. He's like a lot of assistants and head coaches out there, he's kinda afraid to make roots because he might miss out.

So who replaces him? Honestly, I don't think that will be decided until early spring. Same for Kevin Steele's job. I don't think Saban works in a rush about this kind of thing and between his coaching tree and his mentor's tree, not to mention his agent's ties, there is always a list of names to cull through. I do think that he has a great chance to make some adjustments in the defensive philosophy through these changes, much like he did on offense last year. If you remember going into last winter, Major left and so did the TE coach. Saban took the time to get a proven OC and a good friend in Bobby Williams to coach TE and special teams. The results were self-evident for sure. Perhaps after the humbling realities from Florida and Utah, this can help re-invent how they use the Cover 2 and Zone Blitzes.

What is amusing about all this is how quickly the spin and distancing fans on these message boards do out there. Right now some of the fine titles gracing the Internets are:

"Saban is the X factor in recruiting, NOT Thompson"

"Thompson to UT.....wth?"

"He is supposedly an amazing recruiter, but lets be honest, Saban is the reason they commit to Bama! ROLL TIDE!"

yet while he was here, he was a recruiting God. Funny how that happens eh? In the end, it goes like this, do I like that he's going to Tennessee? No, and if he was going to Texas or Cal, fans would have a different tone about this issue by the way. Do I like that he left now and not in March or April? No, but when do you make staffing moves normally....January and February. Will this hurt the progress of the Saban rebuilding project? Probably not, but it will definitely make things a little harder in the mean time.

One guy sweating more than the others is Curt Cigneti. All of a sudden, he's gotta actually earn his way and not hide around quite as much. He's already in the bullpen a bit over how poorly the WR's not named Jones performed.....

Recruiting in general....

If you log on to one of the humpteen websites out there, you pretty well can count on 2 types of threads being popular and rehashed each morning. First one is about how the class finishes and who is in it. The second thread that seems to be looming around is how Program X is not this that or the next and all their guys should be thinking Bama, or how this coach or that coach is not as good as Saban.

That's all nice and I love the effort, but there is a little bit of reality that has to come into play. For example, I know the "insiders" are all over the page on some stuff, like Randle, and that has some reading into things a little harder than others. So, when the heat is on to get the must have, the earth will open up and swallow us all if we don't get him, cannot get an erection without this guy signing with Alabama starts to set in, the effort to talk yourself into how Tim Tebow, Caddy Williams, Marcus Manson, Brandon Spikes, etal. must come here and there is nothing else to it. Kinda like Christmas morning with no Red Ryder BB Gun, we've known this pain. Saban and staff are as good as it gets, no doubting that even with what's left of the staff, but there are just some factors that go into recruiting that Saban and co. cannot beat. The heartstrings of a momma's boy being one of them. Even the biggest and meanest of young men have the complex sometimes and won't leave state for all the potential in the world. That's not saying Randle or any others mentioned were or are momma's boys....well maybe Tebow he looks like he has a milk mustache still...but the draw to have mom and dad in the stands each home game and going home for holidays and seeing your boys after the game or during the week has a draw to it. There is also the fan factor. Some of these players have been life long fans of some teams. Tebow as a Florida guy, but Shula thought he could be the next Pope John Paul or something. Fail.

For what it is worth, I'd put down the following to finish out with just on what I read in articles and hear from bankers in TTown:

Kelly
Kirkpatrick
Moore
Patrick
Stinson
Patterson

Do you notice 4 out of 6 are home state boys? Mommas win championships too. What proof or science is there to it? Not a damn thing, just like the others. Is there one of those 6 that they can't live without? Yep. Patterson. Last year it was Zo Lawrence, this year it is a MS WR. He's got game with his peers and isn't a freak athlete in a small town thing, that I like.

Now, on the flip side there is this poor mouthing USCal, LSU, Florida, and whomever else is hot in recruiting that day. I'm ok with just playful bullshit, but some of this theorizing in recruiting is just absurd. Today's lesson in cerebral assassination was that Pete Carroll was not in the same class as Saban and Meyer (surprised he got promoted to listen to some) as recruiters go. Now, outside of Saban and Bryant, there aren't many coaches I hold in higher regard than Pete Carroll. Carroll was not a great pro coach, but neither was Saban or Petrino or Spurrier. The college level is a fit for Carroll just like it is for those mentioned. USCal went from near Navy/Army extinction to national power on his watch. He's created the dominance and unmerciful pummeling that happens out west now. Any top end recruit that he wants, it is his to lose. That's what Saban is working towards at Bama. If you want to see the long term model for Saban's "Process" visit USCal to see the pipeline and daily dominance of the region in all phases of football. He also is about as good a person as you can be around off the field. Most probably don't know it, but if you saw 60 Minutes interview him you do, but he's a big part of the LA community. No, he isn't at Spagos or wherever Lindsey and Paris are, but that other part of town...Compton and Crenshaw. He said early on he saw the devastation of gang violence in the community and felt he had to do his part. So, he goes to these rough areas talking to kids and teens about gangs, drugs, violence, and the better life there. He takes those kids to practice to get star struck and tries to mentor them and shoot them straight. While that may impress you on its own merits, it gets better. He does this at night. No police escorts or bodyguards, just him and some others trying to talk to these guys and make a difference. He's winning in life not just football in my book and if my boy wanted to play for him, I wouldn't slight him just because I know he'd make a difference in his life if my boy let him.

Then there is how big a liar Urban Meyer is. The fact he uses politcalesque tactics to recruit away from other programs may give you a moral problem, but it doesn't him. Wouldn't me either really, you are paid to do a job, he's doing his and the results back that up with 2 national titles, consistent recruiting talent, and a pool of NFL ready players seemingly every August. They are about to get to that point where a down year is 10-2. Yes he can stay in state and get all the talent in the world, but that doesn't make it that easy. Just ask Ron Zook. Talent doesn't just win for itself. It has to fit in and work for what you want it to. Meyer's spread may not be the NFL friendly offense that Carroll's is, but it is putting guys in the spotlight and getting them drafted, and it is winning games. That's the difference in Meyer and a guy like Richt or Fulmer is that he gets the guys that can fit in his offense and defenses and not just the name list that Rivals or Scout or whomever provides.

Then there is Les Miles, you know the idiot savant. Miles as a coach is not in the elite area, and probably never will be. However, he does seem to do what Tubberville did well for a while, he gets assistants that keep him out of trouble. He also has a state that he can in state 25 if able, but has had success in Texas and Florida on occasion. Is he a super recruiter like Carroll or Saban or Meyer or Bowden used to be? No. Does he suck like Shula? No. The biggest thing that Miles does is put the ring out show he can win, show he can make NFL talent at OSU and LSU, and let the atmospher of Death Valley do its part. There are few things that rival the intensity and atmospher of Baton Rouge on a Fall Saturday night. The jury will be answering the question of his prowess in the next year or two though. He'll have the talent taken in but can he coach it to win. We'll see. Mr Hat may be smug, but like one guy pointed out, he's not lost many that he's offered to officially or not. Those mommas recruit championships too.

So I can read your mind and you are going to say Saban must suck in my mind. Stop sifting around. My mind thinks in a variety of things but Saban sucking hasn't been one. Saban is a lot like Carroll in his philosophy and he has his way and that is the only way one of his teams will go. He knows the rules, he works through them, and even creates some over time because he will make it his job to win, that's what his paycheck says. He's demanding like Carroll. He's 24/7/365 about his job and developing his program, and that takes a lot to get used to as an assistant and a player. That's a hinderance for some (Thompson/Applewhite/Steele) and a perk to others (see all the recruits). Saban isn't sifting through Forrest Davis magazine for his players, he's watching their film, putting scouts on the ground and getting reports back to him. He's trusting his instinct on talent evaluation for the most part. If he retires and goes into recruiting analysis, I'll drop my subscriptions to buy his. Saban knows his system and way will win, he's got the ring to show that. However, catching lightning twice in two different jars is harder than most accept it to be. He'd be the first if he does.

Really, recruiting is kinda silly though. You get all up in the air about 25 guys coming to school, out of which maybe 18-20 pan out, 7-10 are real starters from that group, and then that's when I'd evaluate the class is at the end of the 3-5 years there. The other funny thing is folks praise you for getting an Andre Smith or Julio Jones or Nico Johnson type guy, but really if they grew up a Bama fan or fell in love with the school, did it take a genius to make that happen? Sometimes I guess, but you or I could have gotten Jay Barker or Brodie Croyle to sign with the school their heart tugged them to.

Basketball, I'd rather watch Baseketball....

I don't watch the games unless there is nothing else on. I hate that I've gotten that way now, but it just isn't healthy to get mad at something you know will make you that way before you start. I could beat a dead horse about the problems going on down there with Gottfried, but I won't. The two things that really are just out there that cannot be explained are that the attendance for home games sucks and the quality of the teams after all this time have regressed. There isn't a flu pandemic or an NCAA infraction causing these things. It is just plain ol bad is bad sports. Both gripe me, but the fact that the school spent good money to renovate Coleman and this is what we get is inflated football ticket prices and .500 basketball just ain't it. The SEC as a whole is down in basketball, they will be lucky to have a team in the top 12 or 15. That bothers me because if the NCAA Tournament takes 5-6 SEC teams, and Bama's one, does that earn the right to stay one more year if you go 8-8 in conference? I fear it will because Mal's capacity to understand his overall job is not there. How OU, Texas, UT, and others can have good football and basketball and Bama can't scratch its own ahem basketballs is beyond me.