Operation "replace the GOAT"
Kalen DeBoer has a massive undertaking ahead of him, how will he direct Nick Saban's program into a new era of college football?
You never want to be the guy who has to follow THE guy. That’s the old wisdom about replacing legendary figures at the top of an organization. I’ve always heard it applied to football but I’d assume it’s true most anywhere.
Going from one leader to another is difficult enough when the former wasn’t the greatest to ever do it. Nick Saban’s resume as the greatest college football coach of all time is basically unassailable. No one accomplished more and it’s unlikely anyone ever will, especially with the playoffs expanding. In particular, he had an unparalleled ability to adapt and replace people within his staff. Even his own mentor Bill Belichick couldn’t match it and fell apart after losing Tom Brady, Dante Scarnecchia (O-line coach), and Ernie Adams (“football research director” and master planner).
Incoming head coach Kalen DeBoer has taken a different track as a head coach. His staff when dominating the NAIA level of football with the Sioux Falls Cougars (67-3, three national championships in five seasons) included Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and Washington defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell. Only Grubb appears to be following him to Alabama but the new defensive coordinator Kane Wommack is a fellow DeBoer coaching alongside back at Indiana.
In other words, he’s hiring within a network of contacts. It’s not a huge knock, but Saban’s method was, “I’m going to go find people I’ve never met, interview them, and them dog cuss them into doing what I want.”
Where hiring within a smaller network really burns people is when you’re replenishing a staff after initial success. If DeBoer has the kind of success that sees his assistants poached for head coaching jobs, he’ll have been a pretty good replacement for Saban if not quite “the GOAT” himself.
What are the chances of initial success?
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