Alabama Football: The coaching silly season is just so much fun

Alabama football has one assistant coach opening and the new hire will be made in an orderly fashion. At other schools there is turmoil and it is laughable.

Even though Alabama football is taking a much-deserved break from practice, the Tide staff is as busy as ever. Analysts are working hard on three sets of team books that will lead to three game plans. Recruiters are jetting all across the nation.

Amidst this activity, Nick Saban is considering who will become his next offensive coordinator. Plus, he and Mike Locksley are coordinating a transition schedule allowing Locks to recruit for Maryland while also preparing for Oklahoma and beyond. Nick Saban will have his finger in every detail. The schedule for bringing onboard a new OC will be solely determined by Saban.

Elsewhere transitions are not going so smoothly. Urban Meyer bid adieu to the Buckeyes in much the same fashion as he did at Florida. Never has a successful football coach drug programs through such ordeals. In typical Urban fashion, he hedged all bets on ever coaching again.

Urban leaving should bring joy to Michigan fans – except rumors are Harbaugh is unhappy. Then again, the prospect of the most over-rated coach in CFB leaving Ann Arbor should bring relief to any sane Wolverines.

“It just means more” even applies to assistant coach hires in the SEC. Hugh Freeze is looking for a new gig. Now that Ole Miss is mostly out of probation trouble, apparently Greg Sankey will no longer block a Freeze hire by an SEC school. Phil Fulmer wants Freeze. So does Gus Malzahn. Of course, they do. Those two programs are always up to doing anything to win.

The Reverend is seemingly in high demand. Even conservatively Christian, Liberty University apparently has no problems with sins of the flesh if they lead to more football wins. Fulmer is probably willing to have Freeze report directly to him in running the Vol offense.

The Auburn soap opera is the most entertaining of all. Some, maybe most Aubie powerbrokers want Gus gone. Gus may or may not have agreed to a reduction in buyout dollars for a promise to coach the Tigers another season. Some of the Fambly are still yearning to write some huge checks for a new Top Gun to challenge Alabama football.

Gus wants to save his job by hiring Freeze. Freeze wants a two-year deal. The problem is Gus is only allowed to hire new assistants with one-year deals. Who knows how the mess plays out down on the Plains but the disarray is fun to watch unfold.

Should we Alabama football fans restrain ourselves lest a new coaching development occurs in Tuscaloosa? Perhaps – Mike Locksley could lure Josh Gattis away for a promotion to offensive coordinator at Maryland. Losing Locks and Gattis would be a big blow. Then there is the rumor Oklahoma has not given up chasing Pete Golding to be the Sooners next defensive coordinator. None of us want to lose Gattis or Golding. But we can relax knowing Nick Saban has a plan more carefully thought out than anything created by a Meyer, a Harbaugh or a Malzahn.

A closing disclaimer: this post is a combination of fact, rumor and conjecture. But like everything we publish at Bama Hammer, the rumors and the conjecture are believed to be tied to what is really going on at places like Tennessee and Auburn.