Transfer Portal 2023-2024...

[jjv0004]

I checked Sayin's page and saw no offer from Washington. I did search on it hence I saw he got an offer from Washington State.

I'm obviously frustrated, but also incorrect on that aspect.

Even if I'm misreading the situation, I think taking Mack before Sayin declared was terrible optics. It certainly left me with a particular impression, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react to seeing what I feared would play out, playing out (I specifically brought up Sayin when Mack committed).

I was against NIL. I wanted a better recruiter. Watching the talent Saban assembled get decimated immediately is nightmarish and I think avoidable.

Last time I felt like this was after Shula's ten win season when I stated my thought on him and was given a timeout that didn't end until Shula had coached his way out of a team. It felt like watching a train crash you knew was coming.


I guess I should try to give myself a timeout here. I was adamantly against NIL, I argued with several posters here about it. I warned about Texas, I knew what this would end up as.

Then I was really worried about DeBoer's ability to relate to blue chips and keep them around. It's all coming true, and I can't see the positive because it's the bad things I said would happen. I also warned about Sayin leaving when Mack committed.

I hope I'm wrong, I really really do but so far I haven't been and it's not good.

Edit: I want to make one thing clear despite my frustration. I've never, at any point said DeBoer can't coach. I think he can coach, it's just the talent side of thing where he has issues.

He has Roach and Gillespie. Two good recruiters. And, he has hired Kane Wommack, who will be able to recruit the south well, Maurice Linguist, who recruited some stud DB's to Texas A&M and coached DB's for the Cowboys and he just hired Colin Hitschler, who was a top 30 recruiter last year at of all places Wisconsin. We will still get recruits. And when we get them, DeBoer will coach them up as good as anyone in the country.

 

[Power Eye]

I'm not.

In fact, in retrospect, I wish he would have stepped down after the 2020 title. Anyone who has watched the way the last few teams played will tell you they were winning largely on talent alone, looking nothing like the dominating teams Saban fielded year in and out for the previous decade. The decline was right in front of us but as most are results-oriented, it wasn't overly-obvious.

I've been somewhat reserved in my criticisms of Saban but you can find posts I've made which were quietly critical of his team prep and coaching choices since 2020 because it was obvious something was wrong, from the process-oriented perspective.

It was a good run, but despite the W/L results, Bama hasn't really looked like Bama for the last few years. It was (likely past) time. I'm thankful for what Saban did but I'm also thankful he didn't hold on longer than he did.

I don't necessarily disagree that we have slipped, but sometimes when we are so close to things we don't see them for what they really are and we take them for granted. We've won 2 SEC titles, made two playoffs, lost a national title game and beat UGA twice in the last 3 seasons. There are only two teams that have had more program success than us over the last three years, and that's UGA and Michigan. I think DeBoer will be a great coach for us, if we give him the chance, but it will be challenging to replicate the success we've had over the last 3 years.

As for the players leaving, I don't care. My preference is to get it over with as soon as possible and rid ourselves of those that don't want to be here without Saban as the coach. If there are others, then I hope it happens in droves over the next day or so. I just don't want to be dealing with this nonsense two weeks from now.

 

[BamaBoySince89]

That is absolutely my counter. Watching Alabama over the past 3 seasons has been a burden. It has not been pleasant at all.

And before I'm called a malcontent, let it be said again that this program has been stocked with the most 4 and 5 stars in the country over these last three years. The coaching has been about as bad as the Shula era. But that's what all that 4 and 5 star talent can do. It covers a host of sins.

Just go back and watch the Ole Miss/Florida games from 2020. We were just able to out-talent everybody and not play a lick of solid defense. The 2023 team would lose those two games easily

 

[mlh]

Tell me how what's happening now reinforces your belief he can't recruit? More kids are staying than have left, and the ones who have left are going to their second choices and getting more money. What coach can realistically compete with that? Even Saban ten years ago wouldn't have been able to stem this outward flow of players.

Also keep in mind that DeBoer and his staff don't have a lot of options for pulling guys out of the portal. What schools are open - Washington, South Alabama, Buffalo, Arizona?

We'll get a better picture of what the roster will look like next fall after spring training and the portal is open again.

 

[davefrat]

I"m not suggesting that we should have hired Kiffin (assuming he was interested) but I would guess that we wouldn't have seen nearly the amount of attrition on offense had he been hired.

Idk about the defensive side of things, but IF bringing Kiffin in also meant bringing Golding back, then I'm really happy we didn't go that direction.

 

[MOAN]

I'm not.

In fact, in retrospect, I wish he would have stepped down after the 2020 title. Anyone who has watched the way the last few teams played will tell you they were winning largely on talent alone, looking nothing like the dominating teams Saban fielded year in and out for the previous decade. The decline was right in front of us but as most are results-oriented, it wasn't overly-obvious.

I've been somewhat reserved in my criticisms of Saban but you can find posts I've made which were quietly critical of his team prep and coaching choices since 2020 because it was obvious something was wrong, from the process-oriented perspective.

It was a good run, but despite the W/L results, Bama hasn't really looked like Bama for the last few years. It was (likely past) time. I'm thankful for what Saban did but I'm also thankful he didn't hold on longer than he did.

Agree. I recall coach Bryant's last national championship and the last 3-4 years after. You could see the decline if you really was observant. Most back then were like now with coach Saban, in denial. We had a string of sorry AD's and school presidents hiring back then unlike now though! Greg Byrne is miles better than what we had back then thankfully!!!

 

[ua86]

What have the Romans done for us?

Well there's the roads. And the Aqueducts.

 

[Tideflyer]

tOSU and BOB!!!
Let that sink in…he’d rather play for BOB…

Yeah, I give up!! It`s devolved into sheer lunacy and greed. I`m not sure we`re not seeing also something of an indication of generational child rearing (?). Not in all cases, mind, but in a more than insignificant few. For the benefit of our country and society, that`s something that I really hope is a misperception on my part!

 

[KrAzY3]

Tell me how what's happening now reinforces your belief he can't recruit?

Recruiting is a giant game of moving pieces around the chess board using the art of persuasion.

For instance with the Mack addition, my first reaction was I hope this doesn't influence Sayin. Next day, Sayin is gone. Now, there are some reports the staff liked Mack more than Sayin, nothing confirmed yet, but the other version people are speculating is that Sayin told the staff he wanted to leave.

The problem is Sayin is a Jenga piece and an important one. Removing him destabilizes more pieces.

Part of recruiting is building things in such a way that you see what makes a stable base to build off of, what pieces will get you more pieces, what pieces can you move without knocking others down. It's this giant puzzle you have to piece together. You also have to talk the pieces into playing their role in the tower.

DeBoer seems like a great Xs and Os coach, but I predicted his exit from Washington before the Alabama offer and his AD came out recently and said he was unsure DeBoer was staying in Washington months ago, well before the Alabama opening.

I'm just not sure he built a good Jenga tower at Washington. I mean he built a tall one, it reached pretty high, but it appears to be falling and then he comes to Alabama and that tower is now wobbling as well.

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse though, you asked and I'm trying to explain. The art of persuasion, which is what recruiting is, is an important part of managing a roster. Now that the portal exists you have to re-recruit your players every single year.

Having said that, I don't really care how he build his Jenga tower or how stable it is if he can reach high enough to win a championship.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

Well there's the roads. And the Aqueducts.

Ok, besides the roads, and the Aqueducts....

 

[CB72]

Is Meatychicken bout to come open?

 

[Power Eye]

I"m not suggesting that we should have hired Kiffin (assuming he was interested) but I would guess that we wouldn't have seen nearly the amount of attrition on offense had he been hired.

Idk about the defensive side of things, but IF bringing Kiffin in also meant bringing Golding back, then I'm really happy we didn't go that direction.

Honestly, if we had hired Kiffin, we would probably be saying right now "this is why we brought him here, to recruit and keep players, and he can't even do that. We should have just hired the better coach if this was the case." Because the reality is that anyone other than Smart, and maybe, and this is a big maybe, Sark we would have been dealing with the exact same thing. So let's just take our brief beating and move on to building this team back quickly.

 

[DrJJoyner]

Offered the job a week ago and a week later the best players on the team and the best recruits have jumped ship.

It would be interesting to see what's going on in his head right now...did he expect this or is he anywhere near as concerned as many fans?

Most fans, myself included, are beside themselves. The handful of coaches I know or have seen talking about this think it was inevitable. While most of us focus on "NIL" and Lamborghinis, they just see it about relationships. Saban and his staff spent years building relationships with these players and few of the new staff have them. They're more comfortable with their 2nd and 3rd choice teams that still have the staff that tried to recruit them in place.

I hate, hate, hate it. I think the rules have to change. But this seems to be the way of the world right now.

A 17-, 18-, or 19-year-old kid literally has no concept of an Alabama football team as something independent from Nick Saban. It's an alien concept to them.

I'm angry and frustrated but I sort of get it. It doesn't mean I will root for the kids who abandon the team for greener pastures.

 

[CB4]

Is Meatychicken bout to come open?

And this is what this “coaching change” thirty day portal window has become.

Vultures flying around waiting for the next carcass to be revealed. And because we are getting hammered by it, our program is now relegated to one of those joining the circling masses anticipating the next “body”.

 

[BamaInBham]

I said before he was hired he couldn't recruit, had no ties to the southeast and this was an issue.

You tell me, why does he not even offer Sayin? Huge QB prospect out of California, DeBoer is an offensive guy with the highest paid OC in Grubb, and they don't even offer Sayin? What is that about? Do you know?

The reason he did not offer is because he was not going to waste time on a player with whom he had no chance. He was a 1 season P5 HC who had no shot. Time is precious, he wasn't going to throw it out of the window.

Then, he goes and adds Mack which is now being spun as a well Sayin already said he was leaving move. All I see is Sayin wasn't offered by DeBoer and then DeBoer brings in another QB. That's what I know for a fact.

The facts you outlined are correct. Your interpretation of those facts and your conclusion is almost surely wrong. The only reason I added "almost" is because we are all guessing but your conclusion makes no sense.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

Ok, besides the roads, and the Aqueducts....

The great Ridley Scott film "Gladiator" would NOT have been possible without the Roman Empire.

 

[99ALUM]

Here's why - it's about Alabama, not Saban.

"Every coach that’s coached at Alabama in the past 100yrs has increased their winning percentage coaching at Alabama. Bryant 20 percent and Saban 20 percent better also., Coach Gene Stallings won 70 games and seven years in Tuscaloosa." (via Paul Combs)

Alabama will be fine.

True. Names of top head coaches such as Fran and two Mikes all won 10 games at Bama. So anything is possible with a good X and O’s coach. Just to give out some positive hope.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Ok, besides the roads, and the Aqueducts....

architecture specifically stadiums and theaters

 

[Superdad]

Hindsight is 50/50...

Is that you, Pat?

 

[jjv0004]

Recruiting is a giant game of moving pieces around the chess board using the art of persuasion.

For instance with the Mack addition, my first reaction was I hope this doesn't influence Sayin. Next day, Sayin is gone. Now, there are some reports the staff liked Mack more than Sayin, nothing confirmed yet, but the other version people are speculating is that Sayin told the staff he wanted to leave.

The problem is Sayin is a Jenga piece and an important one. Removing him destabilizes more pieces.

Part of recruiting is building things in such a way that you see what makes a stable base to build off of, what pieces will get you more pieces, what pieces can you move without knocking others down. It's this giant puzzle you have to piece together. You also have to talk the pieces into playing their role in the tower.

DeBoer seems like a great Xs and Os coach, but I predicted his exit from Washington before the Alabama offer and his AD came out recently and said he was unsure DeBoer was staying in Washington months ago, well before the Alabama opening.

I'm just not sure he built a good Jenga tower at Washington. I mean he built a tall one, it reached pretty high, but it appears to be falling and then he comes to Alabama and that tower is now wobbling as well.

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse though, you asked and I'm trying to explain. The art of persuasion, which is what recruiting is, is an important part of managing a roster. Now that the portal exists you have to re-recruit your players every single year.

Having said that, I don't really care how he build his Jenga tower or how stable it is if he can reach high enough to win a championship.

You are beating a dead horse at this point. You don't know what happened with Sayin. You are completely guessing and probably completely wrong. No way DeBoer says to the top ranked QB in the nation, "I don't think you can fit my system and I am going to bring in another QB for you to complete with in 2025." NOT A CHANCE.

Sayin came for Saban. Saban is gone. Makes sense that he would now look around.

We all know you didn't want DeBoer, don't think he can recruit and think he is destined to fail. You don't have to keep telling us. Are you trying to make everyone on this board feel worse about the situation. If you can't say anything good at this point, please stop posting. The sun is still out today, hopefully you and your family are healthy and the sun will still be here in the fall when football starts again.