Jumbo Package: Alabama’s coaching staff and recruiting machine takes another hit

With the confetti still clinging to the turf of Hard Rock Stadium, and the fingerprints still on the 2020 Championship Trophy, it’s of course time to look towards 2021!

And SI is straight out of the gate with the rat poison, tabbing the Tide as its preseason No. 1. The rest of the Top 5 will sound familiar, as well: Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, and Oklahoma. What is interesting is who Dellenger et. al picked for No. 6.

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Look at this ridiculous amount of hardware. Have you ever seen Devonta Smith standing beside a select assortment of his trophy collection?

We certainly botched our preseason prediction that the ‘Rona would lead to more coaching stability. There were reasons that logically everyone all-but the very worst would get a mulligan: the financial crisis affecting...well, everything; unprecedented difficulties facing student athletes; logistical nightmares; player personnel and coaching staff contracting the virus.

Turns out we were very wrong. It’s been a remarkably busy offseason already, in particular among the assistant/coordinator market.

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Alabama women’s hoops is off to its best start in literal decades. For all their dominating efforts, the then 11-1 Tide still weren’t ranked. But, the NCAA named them their team of the week yesterday.

Unfortunately on that very same day, Tennessee decided to remind everyone that they were the original WBB dynasty. The Lady Vols demolished ‘Bama on their home court.
Sigh. I hate the Vols — men, women, and children.

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Cleveland may have lost the battle yesterday, but they almost certainly took the Chiefs down with them. Up 19-10 midway through the third quarter, the two-headed Cleverer-than-thou Monster of Eric Bienemy/Andy Reid decided to run a speed option. Patrick Mahomes was met in the hole by Mack Wilson who concussed the reigning NFL MVP. The NFL Concussion protocol almost certainly means that he will be absent from the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills (America’s team. Not too late to jump on this bandwagon folks!)

Travis Kelce was salty AF about it, calling Wilson’s hit dirty. To which Wilson’s teammates jumped in to defend him (notably Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield responded.) And, in the ultimate “bruh” moment, some suicidal folks with beer muscles were even dumb enough to threaten Wilson personally.

You decide: dirty or not?

Seriously, what a dumbass play call. You have a two-score lead at home, with just 9 ¹⁄₂ quarters of football in front of you. Get an insurance score or play some defense, shorten the game, and get to the AFCCG and a possible Super Bowl. Everything from that moment on is playing championship football...and you call that play? As Parker said, KC “just calls shit because they can.” And despite his salty Broncos fandom, that playcall illustrates just about every reason that I dislike offensive coordinators in principle.

I’d be mad about the outcome too, Chiefs fan. But not at all for the reason you are.

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Alabama’s coaching staff took another hit yesterday, when RBC Charles Huff was hired by the Marshall Thundering Herd to man their program (that’s 11 of them, if you’re keeping track). The similarities to the man he is replacing, Doc Holiday, are eerie: SEC position coach and recruiting coordinator coming off a national title, with the replacement coming at the (alleged) direct intervention of the WV governor.

We wish Huff the best, and Alabama’s recruiting will take a hit. With Huff and Banks’ departure, Alabama has now lost its Recruiters of the Year — both of them. Still, when you’re a 37-year-old position coach and you get to make the leap straight to a very respectable G5 job you take it. But man, given that the Guv calls the shots in Thundering Herd athletics, and with all of the political infighting and meddling and interference at that job, everything about it seems absolutely toxic. It’s like Hillbilly Auburn! Still, best win early and win big or the uber-shit heel villain Jim Justice is gonna’ stab you straight in the back, Huff.

Huff gave a very nice farewell to the Capstone on the way out the door.

Sigh, back to the drawing board all over again for the Tide.

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