re: Potential replacement for when Saban retires

I go:

Pruitt
Dabo
Belichick

b

Defense and talent evaluation motherfricker, do you speak it?

quote:

---

Josh Niblett

---

Coached at my HS alma mater...before Hoover.

If it was me.... I'd go for either a splash steal from someone established or pull from the NFL. No up and comers, no assistants with no HC experience.

Dabo got dat too doe.

quote:

---

I want someone high strung, wound up tight.

Guys like Peterson and Swinney come off too laid back to handle the pressures and scrutiny of the Bama job.

---

I won't forget the game last year...I forget the opponent...where the Clemson punter ran a fake on his own, and got the expected arse chewing after coming off the sidelines. But then, a few plays later after the other team scored, Dabo went and found the punter sitting on the bench and started the arse chewing again. Pretty shitty example if you're trying to teach your kids to "play the next play".

Nor does Bama need a coach that knows less about the rules of football than its own fans. Dabo looked like an utter moron after the onsides kick. Bad enough to be unprepared...even worse to go ape shite on the officials...but then to get up in the post game press conference on national television and demonstrate his cluelessness about the rules...a rule that the vast majority of his own fan base probably knows. Mistakes like that you don't live down.

I like the idea of Dabo replacing Saban in 5-7 years.

But if it will indeed be 5-7 years away (fingers crossed), a lot will change by then and the list of candidates could be completely different.

I don't know for sure that Dabo will be our next coach. Say he isn't. The odds of a long run after that are slim. Really tough to follow a legend. If Mama calls after the next guy, Dabo would take the job in a heartbeat. Honestly I think he would be our next coach anyways. No matter how you slice it, I think he will be our coach one day.

Dabo concerns people, but at some point you have to REALISTICALLY make a list of who else you would want.

Pruitt isn't going to be the head coach unless he leaves after this year and goes to coach at P5 school and immediately has success. Even then, a track record of 3 years somewhere is thin at best. Bottom line, unless Saban stays 10 more years, there is no way it's Pruitt.

So, moving past that, who would you rather have than Dabo? Who has a better consistent track record of establishing a program, recruiting, having a set philosophy and controlling everything a program does?

Here are the only people I'd put in that conversation :
- Urban Meyer (not leaving)
- Jim Harbaugh (not leaving)
- Dabo Swinney
- Chris Peterson
- Jimbo Fisher
- Bob Stoops

Past that, there are the guys who fit some of those categories but not all of them :
- Mark Dantonio
- David Shaw
- Gary Patterson
- Mike Gundy
- Kyle Whittingham

Finally, there are the "they are young right now but maybe in 5 years" guys :
- Justin Fuente
- Tom Herman (not leaving)



So, again, comb that list and tell me who you think is a legitimate candidate to take our job all things consider. I come down to 2 people - Dabo Swinney and Jimbo Fisher.

I used to be pretty anti-Dabo to Alabama. I thought his shtick was all "underdog" and emotion stuff. But after watching his teams the last 2 years, they are as athletic, fast and big on both sides of the ball as anybody in the country outside of Alabama and Ohio State, and they play as hard as anybody I see. And like someone said above, he would not be Saban. He has his own very distinct philosophy and management style, one that he is very comfortable with and that he will institute wherever he goes. I think that would actually help him quite a bit following a guy like Saban in that he wouldn't be looked at as "Saban Jr" like a McElwain or Smart would, having every move compared back to Saban. And, finally, Saban likes him a lot. He has a personal relationship with him and respects him as a football coach. That will matter.