Have the changes in college football hurt us more than anyone else?

We are being outspent in the portal, especially on the DL.

Wommack is a terrible DC and Roach is no DL coach.

Lawson is playing back from knee surgery and shouldn't be starting.

Losing Keenan hurt.

We weren’t ready to play mentally either and the buck stops at the top for that.

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We are being outspent in the portal, especially on the DL. Wommack is a terrible DC and Roach is no DL coach.

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Bama has lost out in DL recruiting even in back to the last few years of Saban.
Not sure what they are trying to do an defense but Wommack has gifted several offenses with perfect game plans to bend them over a barrell.

He's asleep at the wheel.

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That’s a man that has no clue how to get these 4-5 star paid athletes how to play…

Very well thought out post. I agree that we (well, most of us) want Nick Saban 2.0 but the problem is, there is no Nick Saban 2.0 out there. Moreover, you're correct that in this day and age, I'm not sure that that coaching style will work anymore since kids can/will pout and walk away when their feelings are "hurt".

It's hard to argue with "on paper" that CKD was probably the best coach out there to be hired but there are no guarantees. I used to tell my employees who sometimes wanted some kind of "guarantee" that if they wanted a guarantee, buy a toaster. Fact is, there are seldom guarantees in life.

This leads me to the realization that Greg Byrne made a mistake hiring CKD. He (CKD) seems like a nice guy but he's in way, way over his head at a place like Bama. Unfortunately, we are stuck with him for at least two more years after this because of the simple fact of the buyout is way too high. It's just reality.

To make matters worse, CKD made some bad hires, namely Kane Wommack (also in way, way over his head), Chris Kapilovic (offensive line development has been terrible) and keeping Freddie Roach. I like Freddie and he recruits fairly well but he has done NOTHING to develop D line guys.

Also, while on paper CKD has recruited well, the one glaring need that hasn't been met is DT/DE types. Not sure why this is but the past two recruiting classes have had guys that are "pretty good" or were projects like Steve Mboumoua who in 2-3 years might be very good. Zero guys that are/were dominant at the HS or even JC level. And now, we're paying dearly for that mistake. Last year, Bama was very mediocre in terms of sacks and it looks like more of the same this year. ONE sack yesterday.

Finally, when CKD is fired after the 2027 season, we're most likely not going to get a "wow" hire. The big name coaches aren't coming.

Dabo-Nope. Has it way too easy to Clemson. He's not coming.

Sarkisian-Nope. He's perfectly happy in Austin.

Dan Lanning-we can't match Nike money at Oregon.

Lane Kiffin-I can't emphasize how badly Lane didn't just burn bridges at Bama, he dropped a thermo nuclear missile on those bridges. He will never, ever be the HC at Bama.

Most likely, we'll hire someone like:

Matt Campbell HC at Iowa State

Lance Leipold HC at Kansas

Will Stein OC at Oregon

Glen Schumann DC at UGA

May be none of those guys but IMO, a lot of our fan base is going to be underwhelmed by the hire, at least initially.

Finally, we're in for a grim 2-3 year folks. Get ready for going 6-6, 5-7 most years in that time and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. I know I'll be downvoted but I don't care,

Saban's DT recruiting was not up to standards his last few yrs.

Successful coaches will have to know how to navigate the new culture of college football. In doing that they cannot forget the physical part of the game. I do not think this staff realizes the physical part enough. Being tough physically helps the mentally side. I am keeping an eye on Beamer at South Carolina because he seems to understand this.

I think there’s one undeniable truth in football. I don’t care if you run the Notre Dame box, I don’t care if you run the Air Raid. If you can’t impose your will at the line of scrimmage and get one yard when you absolutely must have one yard, and stop the other team when it absolutely must have one yard, 99.999999999 times out of 100, you’re not going to be successful.

And that takes sheer, naked, brutal physicality. It doesn’t matter what analytics say (and I’m generally favorable to analytics).

He is in a no win situation . There is nothing he could have said yesterday or today that will make people happy . I would like a few thrown clipboards or something or maybe get in someone’s face but these players are way different than what we are accustomed to.

Coach Bryant used to say if it’s 3rd or 4th and one and you can’t pretty consistently get it, you probably deserve to lose.