We all know Nick Saban’s reputation as a head coach but the leader of the Alabama football program also has an outstanding track record of helping assistants rise to become head coaches around college football. In recent years, Saban has expanded his expertise to another area — reshaping and rehabbing the careers of coaches that have fallen on hard times.

Outside of Butch Jones, who is set to enter Year 3 of being an intern for the Crimson Tide, coaches that come work for Saban have a history of moving on to bigger and better and the latest coach to join Alabama’s staff in order to do the same is former USF, Texas and Louisville head coach Charlie Strong.

Strong’s official addition to the Alabama coaching staff was first reported by Chris Low of ESPN:

“Nobody has had more success bringing in former head coaches than Nick Saban, and he’s tapping back into that market with Charlie Strong, who has agreed to join the Alabama staff as a defensive analyst, sources tell ESPN. Strong had several opportunities to join SEC staffs.”

It’s widely been reported that Dan Mullen wanted to hire Strong on his Florida Gators staff this offseason. In his 10 years as a full-time head coach, Strong has a 74-53 overall record as a head coach. He was 37-15 at Louisville, 16-21 at Texas and 21-16 at USF.

Considering the issues Alabama has had on the defensive side of the ball in big games in recent seasons, Strong’s hire in Tuscaloosa would appear to be a win-win for both parties. Strong, previously an outstanding defensive coordinator in the SEC prior to becoming a head coach, should be able to assist Alabama’s defensive staff week in and week out in 2020 as an analyst, and if need be, step into the defensive coordinator position if called upon.

That’s something Paul Finebaum suggested this week following the news that Alabama was trying to hire Strong.

No matter the capacity in which Strong joins the Alabama coaching staff next season, there’s no doubt Saban’s staff just got stronger with this addition.