re: Turnover was expected, to think otherwise was foolish

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Wrong. Bear said to hire Stallings and the AD didn’t listen.

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Bryant was the AD. That became the fashionable story around '90 when Stallaings came to town. Mostly from Bryant Jr. saying something about him being "Papa's choice". More than likely Bryant Jr. working to getting him approval. Most of the reporting from then was Bear's approval of Perkins.

Perkins, Stallings, Sherrill, Ford, Pell, Mal Moore and Dye were all candidates and Stallings was the only one without real coaching success to that point. Again, Bryant was AD at the time, it's not like he didn't have a direct hand in things.

There's a book "The Long Shadow of Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant" by Gaylon McCullough where they go through the process of replacing Bryant. There's certainly no indication that Bear pushed for Stallings and was rebuked by Joab Thomas.