The five worst choices Alabama could make replacing Nick Saban
By Josh Yourish
3. Not giving Tommy Rees an interview
It would be a tremendous risk to hand the Alabama football program over to a first-time head coach. I’m not saying that’s what Saban should do, but I am saying that he should at least give Rees a shot to interview.
The Broyles Award went to Phil Parker, Iowa’s defensive coordinator, but Tommy Rees was far and away the best assistant coach in college football this year. Saban was wise to pry Rees away from Notre Dame and was even smarter to trust Rees to construct an offense around Jalen Milroe.
Milroe was a disaster against Texas at the start of the year. He went 14-27 passing for 247 yards with two touchdowns and two picks, but his performance was even worse than that stat line. Then he was benched against USF before Saban and Rees decided to rebuild the offense around his strengths.
Rees completely refigured a new offense that only asked Milroe to run the ball and throw deep and instantly became one of the most terrifying offenses in the country. Alabama only finished 69th in yards per game and 54th in yards per play, but Milroe completed 65.8% of his passes and averaged 10.0 yards per attempt with 23 touchdowns to just six interceptions.
Alabama has one of the best offensive minds and creative problem-solvers in the entire country already in the building, so Rees deserves an interview, letting him leave might be the biggest mistake the program can make.