2. New coaching staff will have to be better than last year’s
Nick Saban can’t really be surprised that his coaching staff keeps getting poached from him. When you’re the greatest college football coach of all time, all the other programs in the country want to find the next you. It’s been happening since Saban has come to Alabama, but it seems to be happening more and more recently.
Alabama lost Mike Locksley, Dan Enos, Tosh Lupoi, Josh Gattis and Brent Key from last year’s staff. Not all of those are devastating losses, but there is certainly a lot of turnover in all of the coaching rooms.
Steve Sarkisian will come back to Tuscaloosa as Alabama’s new offensive coordinator. Many will remember Sark for his one-game stint as OC in the National Championship against Clemson a few years ago, but he hopes to right the wrongs that were in that game.
Tosh Lupoi’s replacement will be Pete Golding, Alabama’s linebacker coach last season. Golding will be one of only a few familiar faces on Saban’s coaching staff.
Many believed that some of the new coaches from last year weren’t able to get Alabama over the hump against Clemson. They were great recruiters, but they didn’t seem to be prepared for their jobs on the field. Saban hopes to correct those issues with the new faces on his staff this season.
If they want to get past Clemson, there will have to be improvements on the assistant coaching front. With the new faces (and familiar faces in new positions), Alabama has to grow in that regard.