re: is this an anomaly or are the days of saban getting great coordinators over?

Steele is a pretty clear upgrade on Golding. If Steele can replicate his success at Auburn, with a higher baseline of talent, Alabama should be good to go on the defensive side. Of course, Steele does seem like a fallback type option as a retread, but should make things better regardless.

Rees is an open question. No way around that. Alabama talent will help, but this isn’t Kiffin/Sark where the primary concern was personality fit.