We all remember. But it wasn’t because we had a world class defense. We won a national title in 2017 with a QB who couldn’t turn left. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t a problem. The 2020 season hinged on Mac and the offense of Sark. The defense was merely passable.
I don’t think anyone is saying that the defense has been utterly incompetent under Golding. Simply that it could be and has been better, especially with the talent available at Alabama. And the statistics bare that out. Under Golding we went from tops in the SEC and top 5 nationally every year to almost always at the bottom of or outside the top 10. Pick any defensive stat and basically all of them decreased under Golding. The man has been the primary coach for ILBs every year he has been here, and our ILBs have been one of our weakest positions, with guys out of position or lost most of the time. I’ve seen this blamed on the players, but really, how likely is it that every single ILB for the past 5yrs is just too dumb to understand his job? It’s a coaching issue.
Long story short, I don’t understand your position that we can’t possibly upgrade over Pete Golding. Could we screw it up? Sure, but I don’t think that is likely. I also agree that we need a new O-Coordinator as well. Both coordinators have been hampering us.