Saban, Alabama Could Face Assistant Challenge

BamaHammer welcomes our newest voice, David Wasson. David is a veteran journalist who has covered the Tide for over a decade, and provides great insight into the Crimson Tide program. –Ed.

The uneducated and uninitiated would like to believe that a college football coach’s worst nightmare is when his athletic director asks him into the office and closes the door.

That is untrue. After all, coaches all have golden parachutes attached to their contracts that ensure that their millions will still come (see: Shula, Mike) even as the next guy is poring over game tape and grousing at the local media.

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And no, that nightmare isn’t losing a big-time recruit (see: Shula, Mike and Tebow, Tim). See, five-star studs are a dime-a-dozen – especially when the Scouts and Rivals of the world tend to heap accolades on any 17-year-old that can walk and chew gum at the same time.

No, what is the college football coach’s worst nightmare is exactly what Nick Saban is about to endure at Alabama: losing your prized assistant coaches.

Don’t misunderstand. Saban is among the foremost preachers of the “build from within” camp. Preparing your coaches for bigger and better jobs is part of his job description – just as it was for Bill Belichick when Saban was somehow grayer and less trim that his current 60-year-old incarnation. Building a quality staff means, eventually, letting them go off on their own and hope they don’t pummel your team senseless if they get the opportunity.

But the rub is in the actual “letting them go” part. Because unlike five-star studs, top-flight assistant coaches aren’t stockpiled around the country. And the ones that can live and thrive under a high-pressure situation like Alabama – and with a high-intensity boss like Saban – are even fewer to come by.

Don’t believe me? Ask Urban Meyer what it was like when he was without Charlie Strong and Dan Mullen at Florida … and suddenly had to try and win with Steve Addazio and Co.

That is why the 2011 offseason, which has already begun in places like Memphis and Hattiesburg, could spell more trouble for Saban and the Crimson Tide than a middling (defined by Alabama fans as lower than No. 1 ) recruiting class ever could.

Last year, Saban had to essentially fend off Mark Richt at Georgia to keep Kirby Smart from bolting to his alma mater – giving Smart a hefty pay raise to $750,000 in the process.

This season, Smart is again one of the most coveted assistants in the country – with the excitable defensive guru reportedly in the mix at Ole Miss before Hugh Freeze (another former Meyer assistant) took the Rebels job, and currently being talked up by incoming SEC program Texas A&M to replace Mike Sherman.

Smart isn’t the only Alabama coordinator being coveted. Offensive coordinator Jim McElwain has seen his name come up as part of the Memphis vacancy, and he could also be in the mix at Fresno State as well.

Saban’s problem won’t be in attracting high-quality resumes should Smart and McElwain (or any other assistant, for that matter) bolt from Tuscaloosa. And Saban likely has the fabled short list of ready-made candidates in his desk drawer for every job in the Mal Moore Football Complex – from Mal Moore’s job down to the janitor in charge of sweeping leaves out of his parking place.

No, the real challenge – as Meyer can attest – is in chemistry. The Crimson Tide football coaching staff has enjoyed a remarkable amount of chemistry in the past four seasons with both Smart and McElwain at their respective posts. And chemistry equals success, with 11-plus wins in three of those seasons and coming up one 15-minute quarter away from playing for three national championships in that span.

Football coach chemistry is an elusive thing. When you have it, as the Saban-Smart-McElwain triumvirate has shown, you can not only virtually finish each other’s sentences, you can also groupthink your way out of any challenge an opposing football team throws your way.

When you don’t have it, though, a staff can quickly devolve into an ego-measuring contest. Or worse, a Mike DuBose staff.

The next month should be an interesting one for Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide, for sure. Should either Smart or McElwain depart – or both – as the team prepares for its BCS National Championship rematch with LSU, that chemistry could be upset for good.