quote:
Golding came from UTSA, where he worked miracles with their defense in a very short time. Anybody know what type of offense most of the Conference USA teams run? I don't; it's a serious question. I'd bet it's a lot of RPO stuff, but I don't know for sure.

Saban is considered a defensive genius. Golding, by all accounts, seriously impressed him on first glance, and has continued to do so.

Now, I'll admit the Clemson game was beyond frustrating. I know very little about the Xs and Os of football, but even I was stunned to see us run a line stunt on the goal line in that game. (STILL don't understand that call.) But it seems to me Golding has been coaching with one hand tied behind his back for his entire tenure here -- either essentially doing his boss's job part of the time when Lupoi was DC, or by having the entire middle of his defense gutted by injuries / inexperience.

I'm in the cautiously optimistic camp, although I agree our defense hasn't been stellar to date.

I think Golding knows Xs and Os. I'm sure he was more than impressive when he and Saban got together for their big Q and A. I also don't think Golding is aggressive.

So far, he's been a lot like Kirby in his conservative approach. Smart would often rush 4 and drop 7 and blitzed about 19% of the time. Jeremy Pruitt had us ramped up to about 50% and often in 3rd and long would go at those QBs in biltz packages often at over 70% of the time. The dude was an aggressive DC. In this new age world of spead-em out and giddy-up spread, let's get off the freakin' field.