Kevin Steele Retiring
- Thread starter Mke4Bama
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Hire him and put him on the shelf for a year...?
Make him an Analyst.
But here is the kicker… he can’t be around recruits and can’t be a part of the recruiting process even if you hire him and burn that analyst job. If we were ever going to go that route then we would have done it already.
My understanding is if Pruitt is hired as an analyst, he would still have the 1 year probation when being moved into a coaching position. So CNS couldn't hire him as an analyst to offset the probation.
Is this correct?
Is this correct?
Yeah, my understanding is it's a one-year suspension from an on-field coaching position, meaning Bama would essentially have one less coach for an entire season.
Yeah and it’s why if we were ever going to go that route then you would have thought that we already would have
from everything I have heard Steele retiring was not exactly a surprise to Saban. So if Saban knew this, you would think having Pruitt already on board would be the way to go. Since this wasn't done, it never will be. Pruitt is most likely done as a college coach. fulmer ruined him (he also ruined himself, but fulmer helped)
I think he might be done being much of anything serious for awhile. The Hoover job came open and he was never a serious candidate despite many in the community calling for him to come home.
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Pruitt is effectively black balled from coaching in college. With the calendar the way it is you cannot have a guy who can't actually do the job for a year.
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Soapbox incoming, please forgive me
Our total defensive ranking under Golding was never lower than 18th nationally, and was as high as 9th nationally (ironically enough in 2022, his final season). I am of the opinion that our defense was never bad under Golding - and at times it was very good. This must take the nature of the modern game into context. Ranking in the top 10 in total defense nowadays means you surrender somewhere around 280 - 320 YPG. Fifteen or twenty years ago that meant you surrendered between 180 - 220 YPG. Offenses have gotten so much better in the last 10-15 years. The widespread adoption of modern shotgun-based spread schemes and the amount of time these kids spend working in those systems starting in high school have made defense a much tougher proposition. Things go in cycles - at one time the wishbone was indefensible - but we haven't reached the point that someone has completely "figured out" the spread and how to slow it on a consistent basis, especially if you have NFL talent running it.
Interesting statistic - we actually dropped in total defense ranking this past season, from 9th to 18th.
I say all of this to say that I think the defense is still very much Saban's baby, and the struggles/successes will persist regardless of who the coordinator is unless Saban completely scraps the scheme and runs something else. After 30+ years of running his 3-4 over/under and being in the twilight of his coaching career, I'd say that is unlikely.
There were things this season that were certainly better than 2022 - I think we probably had far fewer missed tackles and our gap control was much better - but we still have the same vulnerabilities that we've always had with Saban's 3-4 defense. The deep middle of the field is always going to be a weak spot because of how we align our safeties, and mobile QBs who are capable passers will always give us a bit of trouble because of the techique we have the safeties play in order to stop the QB run. I read a very good and thorough write up many years ago on Saban's defense, and one statement that stood out to me was along the lines of "most defenses try to key on stopping one or two things the offense does well and force them into doing things they are less comfortable with. Saban's defense attempts to account for and stop everything the offense could possibly do".
When it works it's a thing of beauty - but the stubborn insistence on trying to stop everything is an enormous ask of the players and means there's only a handful at the college level that can consistently do it. Breakdowns in coverage, run gaps, etc. will inevitably ensue. The fact that we've dealt with all of this and still managed to be in the top 2-3 in the conference / top 20 nationally year in and year out is even more impressive. Basically, Saban's defense doesn't work at the college level anymore without elite, well-developed NFL-level talent. It's too complex and it asks too much of the players. There aren't too many linebackers who can seamlessly stuff the run, blitz the QB, and run stride-for-stride in pass coverage against tight ends. There aren't too many safeties who can be a force in the run game and also possess corner-level speed. So on and so forth.
All that to say - in the modern era of college football, we will win (or lose) championships under CNS with our offense. The defense will be an integral complement, but not the main attraction. It was a different proposition in 2007 when we hired Saban. Offenses weren't as advanced and as consistently successful, and you could still win games with stifling defense and a strong power running game. CNS realized that things were shifting around 2013 and adapted on offense and has continued to try to evolve on that side of the ball, but IMO he's stubborn as ever on defense and I don't look for it to change. The last national title we won was in 2020 with the best offense in school history and a defense that surrendered over 350 YPG.
End rant
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Thank you Coach Steele for all you’ve done for our team and university. Enjoy your retirement. RTR
Soapbox incoming, please forgive me
Our total defensive ranking under Golding was never lower than 18th nationally, and was as high as 9th nationally (ironically enough in 2022, his final season). I am of the opinion that our defense was never bad under Golding - and at times it was very good. This must take the nature of the modern game into context. Ranking in the top 10 in total defense nowadays means you surrender somewhere around 280 - 320 YPG. Fifteen or twenty years ago that meant you surrendered between 180 - 220 YPG. Offenses have gotten so much better in the last 10-15 years. The widespread adoption of modern shotgun-based spread schemes and the amount of time these kids spend working in those systems starting in high school have made defense a much tougher proposition. Things go in cycles - at one time the wishbone was indefensible - but we haven't reached the point that someone has completely "figured out" the spread and how to slow it on a consistent basis, especially if you have NFL talent running it.
Interesting statistic - we actually dropped in total defense ranking this past season, from 9th to 18th.
I say all of this to say that I think the defense is still very much Saban's baby, and the struggles/successes will persist regardless of who the coordinator is unless Saban completely scraps the scheme and runs something else. After 30+ years of running his 3-4 over/under and being in the twilight of his coaching career, I'd say that is unlikely.
There were things this season that were certainly better than 2022 - I think we probably had far fewer missed tackles and our gap control was much better - but we still have the same vulnerabilities that we've always had with Saban's 3-4 defense. The deep middle of the field is always going to be a weak spot because of how we align our safeties, and mobile QBs who are capable passers will always give us a bit of trouble because of the techique we have the safeties play in order to stop the QB run. I read a very good and thorough write up many years ago on Saban's defense, and one statement that stood out to me was along the lines of "most defenses try to key on stopping one or two things the offense does well and force them into doing things they are less comfortable with. Saban's defense attempts to account for and stop everything the offense could possibly do".
When it works it's a thing of beauty - but the stubborn insistence on trying to stop everything is an enormous ask of the players and means there's only a handful at the college level that can consistently do it. Breakdowns in coverage, run gaps, etc. will inevitably ensue. The fact that we've dealt with all of this and still managed to be in the top 2-3 in the conference / top 20 nationally year in and year out is even more impressive. Basically, Saban's defense doesn't work at the college level anymore without elite, well-developed NFL-level talent. It's too complex and it asks too much of the players. There aren't too many linebackers who can seamlessly stuff the run, blitz the QB, and run stride-for-stride in pass coverage against tight ends. There aren't too many safeties who can be a force in the run game and also possess corner-level speed. So on and so forth.
All that to say - in the modern era of college football, we will win (or lose) championships under CNS with our offense. The defense will be an integral complement, but not the main show. It was a different proposition in 2007 when we hired Saban. Offenses weren't as advanced and as consistently successful, and you could still win games with stifling defense and a strong power running game. CNS realized this around 2013 and adapted on offense and has continued to try to evolve on that side of the ball, but IMO he's stubborn as ever on defense and I don't look for it to change. The last national title we won was in 2020 with the best offense in school history and a defense that surrendered over 350 YPG.
End rant
Didn't you find it sort of strange that before the Rose Bowl there was a question asked of Steele about the defense and he repeated it two different times that this was the Sabans defense? It just sounded odd how he answered the question the way he did to me.
Thanks Coach Steele for building an angry Bama defense.
Go luck to you in the future.
Go luck to you in the future.
I don't care what the stats say, if you watched Bama's defense under Gol*ing and thought everything was fine I don't know what to tell you.Soapbox incoming, please forgive me
Not saying everything was fine under Golding. I just think our DC gets too much blame / credit. It's Saban's system run to Saban's specifications. The deficiences will persist regardless of who the coordinator is. And I'm not saying it's a bad system - our overall defensive results under Saban have been very good regardless of the coordinator. But it's a system that is so complex that it will struggle against teams / coaches that know how to pressure it and have decent personnel. As long as we continue to run it, we will (for the most part) have to rely on our offense to win track meets against the better offensive teams on our schedule. That statement is probably true for a lot of teams in the current college football landscape to be fair.
D was pretty solid this year after adjustments were made…including UM. Especially in the 2nd half of games.
I agree. I think most of our losses over the last 5-6 seasons have been due to the offense not executing in clutch situations, or having too many three-and-outs, or putting the defense in a bad position, etc.. Even though I think the system is probably too complex, our overall results with it have been very good. I just think that, for the most part, you have to be elite on offense to win championships nowadays. Michigan this season is a bit of an outlier - and I think the 2023 Michigan team would get boat-raced by 2022 Georgia.
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