Lord Saban help him Gump: If it is DeBoer then hopefully Saban helps him pull in some staff who can really recruit.
DeBoer gonna fire that portal up Gump: My biggest worry about DeBoer is how many defensive players do we lose. Downs and Moore should be key players on this team but I'm concerned we could lose one or both. He also probably doesn't get us Ryan Williams back which is a big loss.
Everyone wins a national title at Bama Gump:
Deboer is an excellent hire. He wins wherever he goes. I get it. UW is not Bama or the SEC but I think we could win a national title with him as coach.
I’d be good with Chris Klieman. He took over for a Saban-like (for FCS) legend at NDSU and continued their success. Albeit a different level he knows how to make this transition. His name hasn’t been mentioned but he would be a good hire.
As far as Dabo is concerned- he would win a national title here I think. Not sure if I would like all the rah rah stuff but I’d be ok with it. My preference would be someone else given his past here but if he’s the guy, he’s the guy although I doubt he’s being considered.
DeFensive rebuild Gump:
idk. I think a lot needs to be made on who he brings in. A great deal of recruiting falls on the staff.
Ryan may be gone to Texas. But it is what it is
Our defensive players… Deboer runs a different style defense so it’s probably expected that we lose a good bit. But hey who knows.
Film Don't Lie Gump: He runs a 4-2-5 nickel, which is what we run more than 75% of the time, with the rest being Dime. It's very similar in alignment at least. Likely not quite as complex from a secondary and coverage standpoint...
"I believe in this guy,but need a backup plan" Gump: I mean the plane from Athens could’ve been a semi blank check for Schuman to come help out and possibly take over if Kalen doesn’t work out.
Love Bammer or let the knob hit ya Gump: If they like Alabama football, they will stay! If they don't, I wouldn't want them.
"Who is this guy?" Gump: I really don't know much about Deboer, realizing some concerns about some weakness in recruiting. If he turns out to be out next coach, we owe him our support until he proves otherwise. However, I do like Sark and Kiffin, realizing they have issues too. No coach is perfect, but the positive with these two is that they could hit the ground running without any serious drop off in the overall program.
"Bozo, Krusty, Clarabelle....they all win here. RTR" Gump: Every clown has won ten games at Alabama, I don’t think the first guy after the greatest coach of all time is going to be any different.
"The bug light don't work, let's go to the airport" Gump:
"We gonna be pretty good. RTR" Gump:
To be clear DeBoer is far from my nightmare coach. He's been successful everywhere and is clearly a good coach. He's not my top choice but my top choices were never coming.
I just have some short term concerns. I think long term he'll probably be pretty good here especially if he is thoughtful about his staff.
Natty still on Gump:
Like I said… this was never going to be unite the fanbase hire. It was going to be some guy that Bryne has had his eye on as a potential successor for some time and was not going to be a who’s who of coaching.
In a way I’m happy that Bryne went outside the Saban discipleship of coaches because until very recently their success looked more like the Belichick of coaching. I think new blood isn’t exactly a bad thing because of all the decades we lived under the Bear boys it probably costed us more championships because of trying to replicate him.
Anyways I think the key is to be patient and allow the new coach to build a staff and make a team. I think we are still going to be one of the best teams in the country in 2024. I don’t foresee the mass exodus that many are fearing. So be patient and supportive is all we really can do at this point. Because we really don’t know if it’s a home run or a foul ball at this point.
"The new coach will still be breathing in magic air that Saban exhaled on campus" Gump: Whoever the next coach is will be setup for success with Saban staying involved, because I think Saban's major role in "staying involved" will be fundraising to compete in the NIL and keeping brand recognition at the top of the college football market. Saban's presence and name on top of getting a solid hire would almost ensure any dip would be very, very short term, if at all.
"He ain't one of us, Pawl" Gump:
To be clear, the reason this matters as it pertains to DeBoer is he literally doesn't know these players and they don't know him.
Most of the other names, they've recruited the players committed to Alabama, they've recruited players on the roster currently that would have to be recruited again to stay out of the portal.
The lack of familiarity with the players goes both ways right? It's not just oh well he's not a good recruiter (and clearly it's not what he's best at), but also that these guys just won't know who he is. So, just gaining traction becomes a huge issues. Norvell for instance, he has talent lined up at FSU that will follow him, recruits he's already been recruiting, same with Sark, Kiffin, etc... DeBoer doesn't and he won't have much time to develop relationships and keep these guys.
"Mama said sometimes you get a bad chocolate" Gump:
One thing might be overlooked. I'm trying to say DeBoer didn't win with his own recruits (Washington recruited fairly well before he showed up). His guys are true freshman and true sophomores, he won this year with 9 6 year "covid year" seniors for instance. So my concern is as others have said that 5-10 year out thing, what's going to happen when his recruits are the seniors? We don't know, but if he's doing the recruiting we have cause for concern.
If we had a larger sample size and he's still winning with these guys, I'd feel differently but this is a guy who was 12-6 at Fresno State. It's not exactly like he's a magician, he had Penix.
I'd like to know what a program looks like in four years, heck even three years under him, but all we have to go off of is Sioux Falls and that's not a good comparison. He's only even worked on an power conference campus for 3 total years.
Having said that, he's in my middle tier of candidates. Locksley, Rees, guys like that, those are true disaster hires. But, at the age of 49 DeBoer would have to change a lot to continue Alabama's recruiting success. Basically he'd have to work twice as hard and may be he has it in him, but not sure why he hasn't yet.
"If not for Sexton, this would've been done in two hours We had to wait two whole days!!" Gump: So the article yesterday from Joel Klatt seems to be playing out. Jimmy Sexton represents Saban, Lanning, Deboer, Sark and Norvell. All of those, other than Saban of course, have been given new contract offers over the last few days with the exception of Norvell, and I only say that because I have not seen anything on Norvell. So Klatt's speculation that Sexton would be in charge and slow play this hiring process for his clients' benefit seems to be accurate. Klatt predicted Deboer would be the guy, but maybe it falls to Norvell. It just seems sleazy if this is what is actually happening.
"He talks funny, but let's wait and see" Gump: If it's DeBoer I'll support him, not my first choice but he'll be our coach, for everyone including myself, he is not from the south hasn't recruited the south, Saban had never recruited the south when he went to LSU, Urban didn't recruit the south when he came from Utah to Florida, I think they both did pretty good, so if it's DeBoer let's give him a chance Roll Tide!!!!
Our man = whoever we hire Gump: I think Nick had lengthy discussions with Byrne over the past couple of years about retirement...especially lately. Gregg had his short list and when this happened not even 48 hours ago, he started burning up the phone. I think we got our man but no one except the coach and Saban know about it.
Bottom of the list Gump: If its not DeBoer who else is really left?
"I'll bet he don't call his wife "Miss" Pawl" Gump:
At this point, this has been a complete air ball from Byrne. If people like Tommy Rees are actual candidates.
Its also very clear that our top options said no, which again is not a good thing or a good look.
History is not on our side Gump:
I started out pretty calm with this whole process, Lanning was someone I thought was a great hire before the start of the season and nothing changed since then to disavow me of that notion.
Now, who knows? Could be great, could be terrible, we might not know for a few years. That's always the fun part, right?
Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I'll review the post Bryant hires.
Ray Perkins, could have had Bowden but why make the obvious choice?
Bill Curry, still could have been Bowden but why quit making bad choices now (so much hubris in the hiring process)?
Gene Stallings, a merciful hire all things considered. Failed to complete the trifecta of bad hires. (My take is they often make more of Stallings than they should. He won a national title, but that was also his only SEC title while he was there. If Stallings had followed the Bear immediately, I don't think he'd be viewed the same way.)
Mike DuBose, now that's more like it.
Dennis Franchione, I'd blocked him from my mind. One ten win year at TCU was enough to land the job.
Mike Price, he had two consecutive 10 win seasons at Washington State
Mike Shula, hired because of his last name.
Then you have the absolutely bonkers set of circumstances that lead to Saban. Alabama turns down Spurrier, tries to hire Rich Rod only to have that blow up and end up with Saban.
That's kind of like missing a shot and having the ball bounce off a player's head and into the basket.
Anyway, who knows right? We've had a great run, but this could go great or it could go horribly wrong. I'd love to see a smooth transition but that hasn't been how Alabama does it in the past (the last smooth transition of greatness to greatness was 1930-31 Wallace Wade to Frank Thomas.
We deserve a mulligan from Saban Gump: At this point Saban should consider un-retiring and coming back for a year. Seems like this entire situation has been botched.
"We settling" Gump:
Well i think its clear to msot anyone that our top 3-4 choices have turned us down. That alone isnt a good thing.
No one can honestly think that Deboer and Tommy Rees were our top choices. We are clearly down the list.
Truth Gump:
you ARE hearing from people that would clearly be at the TOP of our list that they arent coming. (Sark, Lanning) and now even Kiffin.
I mean at this point unless one of the above does a 180, or someone like Kirby gets pulled from the magic hat. Its painfully clear we missed our top choices.
Even if we get Deboer. There is no way he was one of our top 2-3 choices to begin the search.
"Might as well have set a fire in the football complex" Gump: Think recruiting is already in tank. I expect a mass exodus into the portal. Deboer or any name that wasnt at the top of the list isnt going to swoon people back. These kids came to play for the GOAT.
"Don't you let anyone tell you Lanning turned us down" Gump:
I wouldn't be so sure about that. We have no idea if Dan Lanning was a top 1-3 choice by Byrne. He was by US, fans on a message board. But it doesn't mean he was by Byrne. The guy is 37 years old, has only been a head coach for two years. Compared to DeBoer, who is 49 years old and whose head coaching resume looks like this:
So why would it be a given that Dan Lanning would by higher up on Byrne's short list than DeBoer?
"They scared to coach at Bammer, Pawl" Gump: Did you really think anybody we pursued would jump at the chance to replace the greatest coach of all time. There is a saying the 1st guy is not the guy but the 2nd guy is when replacing a legend. I am hopeful the 1st guy will be great but to the other guys turning it down now are doing it mostly likely for this reason.
"Bet Bond will be super excited" Gump: Did you really think anybody we pursued would jump at the chance to replace the greatest coach of all time. There is a saying the 1st guy is not the guy but the 2nd guy is when replacing a legend. I am hopeful the 1st guy will be great but to the other guys turning it down now are doing it mostly likely for this reason.
When you know you are no longer the kings of football Gump:
How about this:
We hire random coach
Falcons hire Kirby
Our hire flops Frost style. Kirby hates the NFL
Kirby hoists the championship trophy in 2030 as UGA fans look on and cry.
Serenity now Gump: This is so embarrassing. The university had 17 years to prepare for this and now they have egg all over their face. Star players now fleeing as fast as they can. Someone please stop the bleeding.
"My high school friend's uncle by marriage's second cousin on his mother's side said" Gump:
My source is friends with a big time booster.
This was just sent to me:
"DeBoer has been offered the job. Washington AD is currently meeting with DeBoer for an extension. Ball is in DeBoer’s court.
Byrne told Norvell no this morning due to NCAA infractions.
Also Lanning was never offered the job.
Sark was offered.
Bond in the portal now. Here we go!
Time for the new coach to sell the team why they should stay and hopefully Saban helps in those conversations"
No more RIvals national championships Gump: You need an elite recruiter for this job, Lanning is one, DeBoer isn't.
Just like when all teams replace a GOAT, easy transition Gump: I think DeBoer would win multiple. Kiffin would win at least one I think any of the big names mentioned would win at least 1.
DeBoer gonna fire that portal up Gump: My biggest worry about DeBoer is how many defensive players do we lose. Downs and Moore should be key players on this team but I'm concerned we could lose one or both. He also probably doesn't get us Ryan Williams back which is a big loss.
Everyone wins a national title at Bama Gump:
Deboer is an excellent hire. He wins wherever he goes. I get it. UW is not Bama or the SEC but I think we could win a national title with him as coach.
I’d be good with Chris Klieman. He took over for a Saban-like (for FCS) legend at NDSU and continued their success. Albeit a different level he knows how to make this transition. His name hasn’t been mentioned but he would be a good hire.
As far as Dabo is concerned- he would win a national title here I think. Not sure if I would like all the rah rah stuff but I’d be ok with it. My preference would be someone else given his past here but if he’s the guy, he’s the guy although I doubt he’s being considered.
DeFensive rebuild Gump:
idk. I think a lot needs to be made on who he brings in. A great deal of recruiting falls on the staff.
Ryan may be gone to Texas. But it is what it is
Our defensive players… Deboer runs a different style defense so it’s probably expected that we lose a good bit. But hey who knows.
Film Don't Lie Gump: He runs a 4-2-5 nickel, which is what we run more than 75% of the time, with the rest being Dime. It's very similar in alignment at least. Likely not quite as complex from a secondary and coverage standpoint...
"I believe in this guy,but need a backup plan" Gump: I mean the plane from Athens could’ve been a semi blank check for Schuman to come help out and possibly take over if Kalen doesn’t work out.
Love Bammer or let the knob hit ya Gump: If they like Alabama football, they will stay! If they don't, I wouldn't want them.
"Who is this guy?" Gump: I really don't know much about Deboer, realizing some concerns about some weakness in recruiting. If he turns out to be out next coach, we owe him our support until he proves otherwise. However, I do like Sark and Kiffin, realizing they have issues too. No coach is perfect, but the positive with these two is that they could hit the ground running without any serious drop off in the overall program.
"Bozo, Krusty, Clarabelle....they all win here. RTR" Gump: Every clown has won ten games at Alabama, I don’t think the first guy after the greatest coach of all time is going to be any different.
"The bug light don't work, let's go to the airport" Gump:
"We gonna be pretty good. RTR" Gump:
To be clear DeBoer is far from my nightmare coach. He's been successful everywhere and is clearly a good coach. He's not my top choice but my top choices were never coming.
I just have some short term concerns. I think long term he'll probably be pretty good here especially if he is thoughtful about his staff.
Natty still on Gump:
Like I said… this was never going to be unite the fanbase hire. It was going to be some guy that Bryne has had his eye on as a potential successor for some time and was not going to be a who’s who of coaching.
In a way I’m happy that Bryne went outside the Saban discipleship of coaches because until very recently their success looked more like the Belichick of coaching. I think new blood isn’t exactly a bad thing because of all the decades we lived under the Bear boys it probably costed us more championships because of trying to replicate him.
Anyways I think the key is to be patient and allow the new coach to build a staff and make a team. I think we are still going to be one of the best teams in the country in 2024. I don’t foresee the mass exodus that many are fearing. So be patient and supportive is all we really can do at this point. Because we really don’t know if it’s a home run or a foul ball at this point.
"The new coach will still be breathing in magic air that Saban exhaled on campus" Gump: Whoever the next coach is will be setup for success with Saban staying involved, because I think Saban's major role in "staying involved" will be fundraising to compete in the NIL and keeping brand recognition at the top of the college football market. Saban's presence and name on top of getting a solid hire would almost ensure any dip would be very, very short term, if at all.
"He ain't one of us, Pawl" Gump:
To be clear, the reason this matters as it pertains to DeBoer is he literally doesn't know these players and they don't know him.
Most of the other names, they've recruited the players committed to Alabama, they've recruited players on the roster currently that would have to be recruited again to stay out of the portal.
The lack of familiarity with the players goes both ways right? It's not just oh well he's not a good recruiter (and clearly it's not what he's best at), but also that these guys just won't know who he is. So, just gaining traction becomes a huge issues. Norvell for instance, he has talent lined up at FSU that will follow him, recruits he's already been recruiting, same with Sark, Kiffin, etc... DeBoer doesn't and he won't have much time to develop relationships and keep these guys.
"Mama said sometimes you get a bad chocolate" Gump:
One thing might be overlooked. I'm trying to say DeBoer didn't win with his own recruits (Washington recruited fairly well before he showed up). His guys are true freshman and true sophomores, he won this year with 9 6 year "covid year" seniors for instance. So my concern is as others have said that 5-10 year out thing, what's going to happen when his recruits are the seniors? We don't know, but if he's doing the recruiting we have cause for concern.
If we had a larger sample size and he's still winning with these guys, I'd feel differently but this is a guy who was 12-6 at Fresno State. It's not exactly like he's a magician, he had Penix.
I'd like to know what a program looks like in four years, heck even three years under him, but all we have to go off of is Sioux Falls and that's not a good comparison. He's only even worked on an power conference campus for 3 total years.
Having said that, he's in my middle tier of candidates. Locksley, Rees, guys like that, those are true disaster hires. But, at the age of 49 DeBoer would have to change a lot to continue Alabama's recruiting success. Basically he'd have to work twice as hard and may be he has it in him, but not sure why he hasn't yet.
"If not for Sexton, this would've been done in two hours We had to wait two whole days!!" Gump: So the article yesterday from Joel Klatt seems to be playing out. Jimmy Sexton represents Saban, Lanning, Deboer, Sark and Norvell. All of those, other than Saban of course, have been given new contract offers over the last few days with the exception of Norvell, and I only say that because I have not seen anything on Norvell. So Klatt's speculation that Sexton would be in charge and slow play this hiring process for his clients' benefit seems to be accurate. Klatt predicted Deboer would be the guy, but maybe it falls to Norvell. It just seems sleazy if this is what is actually happening.
"He talks funny, but let's wait and see" Gump: If it's DeBoer I'll support him, not my first choice but he'll be our coach, for everyone including myself, he is not from the south hasn't recruited the south, Saban had never recruited the south when he went to LSU, Urban didn't recruit the south when he came from Utah to Florida, I think they both did pretty good, so if it's DeBoer let's give him a chance Roll Tide!!!!
Our man = whoever we hire Gump: I think Nick had lengthy discussions with Byrne over the past couple of years about retirement...especially lately. Gregg had his short list and when this happened not even 48 hours ago, he started burning up the phone. I think we got our man but no one except the coach and Saban know about it.
Bottom of the list Gump: If its not DeBoer who else is really left?
"I'll bet he don't call his wife "Miss" Pawl" Gump:
At this point, this has been a complete air ball from Byrne. If people like Tommy Rees are actual candidates.
Its also very clear that our top options said no, which again is not a good thing or a good look.
History is not on our side Gump:
I started out pretty calm with this whole process, Lanning was someone I thought was a great hire before the start of the season and nothing changed since then to disavow me of that notion.
Now, who knows? Could be great, could be terrible, we might not know for a few years. That's always the fun part, right?
Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I'll review the post Bryant hires.
Ray Perkins, could have had Bowden but why make the obvious choice?
Bill Curry, still could have been Bowden but why quit making bad choices now (so much hubris in the hiring process)?
Gene Stallings, a merciful hire all things considered. Failed to complete the trifecta of bad hires. (My take is they often make more of Stallings than they should. He won a national title, but that was also his only SEC title while he was there. If Stallings had followed the Bear immediately, I don't think he'd be viewed the same way.)
Mike DuBose, now that's more like it.
Dennis Franchione, I'd blocked him from my mind. One ten win year at TCU was enough to land the job.
Mike Price, he had two consecutive 10 win seasons at Washington State
Mike Shula, hired because of his last name.
Then you have the absolutely bonkers set of circumstances that lead to Saban. Alabama turns down Spurrier, tries to hire Rich Rod only to have that blow up and end up with Saban.
That's kind of like missing a shot and having the ball bounce off a player's head and into the basket.
Anyway, who knows right? We've had a great run, but this could go great or it could go horribly wrong. I'd love to see a smooth transition but that hasn't been how Alabama does it in the past (the last smooth transition of greatness to greatness was 1930-31 Wallace Wade to Frank Thomas.
We deserve a mulligan from Saban Gump: At this point Saban should consider un-retiring and coming back for a year. Seems like this entire situation has been botched.
"We settling" Gump:
Well i think its clear to msot anyone that our top 3-4 choices have turned us down. That alone isnt a good thing.
No one can honestly think that Deboer and Tommy Rees were our top choices. We are clearly down the list.
Truth Gump:
you ARE hearing from people that would clearly be at the TOP of our list that they arent coming. (Sark, Lanning) and now even Kiffin.
I mean at this point unless one of the above does a 180, or someone like Kirby gets pulled from the magic hat. Its painfully clear we missed our top choices.
Even if we get Deboer. There is no way he was one of our top 2-3 choices to begin the search.
"Might as well have set a fire in the football complex" Gump: Think recruiting is already in tank. I expect a mass exodus into the portal. Deboer or any name that wasnt at the top of the list isnt going to swoon people back. These kids came to play for the GOAT.
"Don't you let anyone tell you Lanning turned us down" Gump:
I wouldn't be so sure about that. We have no idea if Dan Lanning was a top 1-3 choice by Byrne. He was by US, fans on a message board. But it doesn't mean he was by Byrne. The guy is 37 years old, has only been a head coach for two years. Compared to DeBoer, who is 49 years old and whose head coaching resume looks like this:
So why would it be a given that Dan Lanning would by higher up on Byrne's short list than DeBoer?
"They scared to coach at Bammer, Pawl" Gump: Did you really think anybody we pursued would jump at the chance to replace the greatest coach of all time. There is a saying the 1st guy is not the guy but the 2nd guy is when replacing a legend. I am hopeful the 1st guy will be great but to the other guys turning it down now are doing it mostly likely for this reason.
"Bet Bond will be super excited" Gump: Did you really think anybody we pursued would jump at the chance to replace the greatest coach of all time. There is a saying the 1st guy is not the guy but the 2nd guy is when replacing a legend. I am hopeful the 1st guy will be great but to the other guys turning it down now are doing it mostly likely for this reason.
When you know you are no longer the kings of football Gump:
How about this:
We hire random coach
Falcons hire Kirby
Our hire flops Frost style. Kirby hates the NFL
Kirby hoists the championship trophy in 2030 as UGA fans look on and cry.
Serenity now Gump: This is so embarrassing. The university had 17 years to prepare for this and now they have egg all over their face. Star players now fleeing as fast as they can. Someone please stop the bleeding.
"My high school friend's uncle by marriage's second cousin on his mother's side said" Gump:
My source is friends with a big time booster.
This was just sent to me:
"DeBoer has been offered the job. Washington AD is currently meeting with DeBoer for an extension. Ball is in DeBoer’s court.
Byrne told Norvell no this morning due to NCAA infractions.
Also Lanning was never offered the job.
Sark was offered.
Bond in the portal now. Here we go!
Time for the new coach to sell the team why they should stay and hopefully Saban helps in those conversations"
No more RIvals national championships Gump: You need an elite recruiter for this job, Lanning is one, DeBoer isn't.
Just like when all teams replace a GOAT, easy transition Gump: I think DeBoer would win multiple. Kiffin would win at least one I think any of the big names mentioned would win at least 1.
