Alabama Football: Why Ryan Grubb should become the Tide’s next OC

As of Tuesday morning, the Alabama Football Offensive Coordinator position still has an opening. Based upon multiple reports from AL.com and others, University of Washington Offensive Coordinator, Ryan Grubb met with Nick Saban on Monday.

Writing for the Seattle Times, Mike Vorel stated,

"Ryan Grubb received two raises in the last three months, becoming the highest-paid assistant in Husky football history.He may be leaving anyway."

If Nick Saban offers Grubb the job, he should take it. More on that in a moment. First, let’s address the small minority of Alabama football fans who question Ryan Grubb being the right choice. A response to those nay-sayers could be a reminder that a growing number of college football experts view Grubb as having one of college football’s best offensive minds.

UPDATE: According to ESPN on Tuesday morning, Grubb is staying at Washington

Let’s not debate evaluations of Grubb, because there is a more important reason to support his potential hiring. If Nick Saban believes Grubb is the best choice to lead the Crimson Tide offense forward, then he is. All the rest of us should accept the case would be closed and move on to how Grubb would shape Alabama’s offense to a championship-winning standard.

If, or once, an offer is made, can Alabama fans be sure Grubb will accept it? Why would he not?

Sure, Washington has made Grubb’s pockets jingle twice in the last two months. Plus, Grubb was given an opportunity to move up to FBS football by current Washington head coach, Kalen DeBoer, first at Eastern Michigan and later at Fresno State. Grubb has coached with or worked for DeBoer for much of his coaching career. Walking away from what must be a close professional bond would not be an easy decision.

But DeBoer and Grubb know other schools will make offers. Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M did, before hiring Bobby Petrino. When Washington raised Grubb’s salary to $2M a few weeks ago, it was an attempt to build a wall around him to deter other programs.

If that price tag had deterred Alabama, Grubb would not have been in Tuscaloosa on Monday.

Alabama football fans are justified to believe no coach should ever turn Nick Saban down. But there is more to it than working for and learning from CFB’s GOAT. Nick Saban’s coordinators have amazing success, both in their Tuscaloosa tenures and later in their coaching careers.

Alabama Football Offensive Coordinators and Success

The next Alabama Crimson Tide OC will be Nick Saban’s sixth in eight seasons. The first in that run (Lane Kiffin), second (Brian Daboll), and fourth (Steve Sarkisian) coached National Championship teams. Another one, Mike Locksley coached in a National Championship game.

Those four guys are now head coaches at Ole Miss, the NFL New York Giants, Maryland and Texas. Going back a bit more in the Nick Saban, Alabama Football era, two more of his OCs (Jim McElwain and Doug Nussmeier also coached National Championship teams.

No program and no head coach offers a coordinator what Alabama does.

Seattle is a lovely city in a beautiful area of the country and $2M is mega-money for an assistant football coach. Despite all that – if Nick Saban offers, it’s a no-brainer, Ryan Grubb should say yes.