Alabama’s offense may be enjoying the best three years in program history, but according to one report from the NFL Combine, Nick Saban is going back to his bread and butter with a pro-style attack under Brian Daboll.

This hire speaks to one constant theme of the Nick Saban administration at Alabama: control. Saban’s style and that of former offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin were never totally in simpatico, but he pushed their differences aside in search of the almighty national title.

After having control over every aspect of his team, just as he has control of every second of his day, for so long, following Kiffin blindly into the land of spread offenses meant that Saban would have to trust something outside of his proven system. That trust was contentious, but it worked well enough.

All of that went up in flames when Kiffin’s messy breakup with the Tide saw him bolt for Boca Raton in the midst of Alabama’s playoff run. Mere weeks later, Steve Sarkisian would be gone too, with only a loss on the game’s biggest stage to show for it.

It makes sense then, that Saban would use this opportunity to cleanse his palate – to banish out all the unknown trickery of these spread gurus and get back to the pro-style attack that he knows so well. To find his next hire, Saban looked to another creature of habit, another neurotic master of the minutiae of football, Bill Belichick.

According to a recent report from Travis Haney of 247Sports, Saban is determined to revert his offense to a style he is more comfortable with.

“He was committed to making this kind of change,” one industry source told us. “It wasn’t going to be a spread guy. It wasn’t going to be a tempo guy. He wanted his stamp, the pro-style stamp, back on this hire. And he was going to the New England/Belichick tree to find him.”

New Alabama offensive coordinator Bill Daboll represents exactly that – a young, moldable mind that won’t be seen arguing on the sidelines with Saban or calling pass plays with the lead in crucial situations. This risk-averse brand of football has built the current Alabama dynasty; run the ball, check it down, and bury the opposition in their own mistakes with a dominant defense.

Still, it’s hard to overlook how dynamic the Tide’s attack under Kiffin truly was. For three years, it took three totally different forms.

In 2014, Amari Cooper produced the best season by a receiver in SEC history. He finished third in the Heisman voting, registered three 200-yard games, and amassed 1,727 receiving yards. That 2014 team set many program records, including most yards per game (484.5), most touchdowns (67), and most total yards gained (6,783).

In 2015, Kiffin’s attack would be on the ground. Derrick Henry broke not only the SEC single-season rushing record but also topped Shaun Alexander’s career mark at Bama in only his third season. This ground-and-pound attack would deliver the duo of Saban and Kiffin their only national title, as Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 in an absolute shootout.

In 2016, it would be a dynamic young quarterback that led the Tide. True freshman Jalen Hurts would sweep the SEC honors for Freshman of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year, but Alabama would come up just yards short in their rematch with Clemson.

The biggest issue for Daboll to overcome won’t be Alabama’s history, however, it will be the current state of the SEC. In the years since Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram were pounding the opposition into submission, the conference has undergone a total overhaul on offense. Saban wanted to be on the cutting edge when he hired Kiffin and he succeeded. Now, the truths that their wide-open system unveiled can’t be put back in the bag.

Saban wanted to be on the cutting edge when he hired Kiffin and he succeeded. Now, the truths that their wide-open system unveiled can’t be put back in the bag.

The successes of shotgun-heavy teams like Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State have become the norm, while professors of the old school like Les Miles, and Saban’s former coordinator, Jim McElwain, have struggled.

It will certainly be interesting to see where the new-look Crimson Tide fit into the current landscape of the SEC.