Coach Davis

I pay very little attention to Spring games. In fact, I have given them zero attention the past few years. Spring games can help build a healthy team culture, help coaches iron out game communications and logistics, and excite the fans. But it's pointless to evaluate talent by looking at Spring games. Arch appears to be on a great trajectory. Just like any hyped-up player in the SEC, let's see how they perform when October rolls around.

Most SEC football programs have enough talent to win. Schools like Georgia, Bama, LSU, Florida, Ole Miss, and Tenn are not lacking in talent. Spring games are meaningless. What matters is how each team will stay focused and the do the right things from now all the way through the whistle of the very last game of the season. Which team wants it more? Which team will do whatever it takes to win every down? Which team will fight to not give up unnecessary yards from their opponent? It's not about NIL deals, recruiting stars, or whatever meaningless nonsense. It's about heart, grit, and the infamous attitude birthed by Saban, "Make their asses quit."

Tenn played great. They earned the win. What I watched, Bama's defense was bad. Not blocking out underneath, not pressuring the point guard, not using the zone to keep shooters uncomfortable, etc. When you're on your home court, defense is easier to play than away. If you want to see how the best do it in college, go watch clips of Villanova from 2016-2018, Georgetown in the 80's, Kentucky 2012-ish, Arkansas when led by Nolan Richardson. Bama can do better on defense. It's been the talk on B'ham radio the past few weeks.

First, can the powers over this forum add a separate section for non-football sports? Two, with how poorly Bama is playing defense (embarrassing last night on its home court), they probably won't make the Sweet 16 this year.

I wish the manager of this site would add new sub menus for non-football sports and keep things like basketball, golf, and baseball under a new non-football menu.

Bama grad here. Also a leadership coach with a ton of experience and training. This is a massive failure on the U of A. Not only does this tarnish Saban's retirement, but a lot of fans, if not all, are very angry at the school. I recommend that all U of A fans boycott Bama radio games in 2024.

College football is following in the steps of the NFL. I can see college football in 10 years being more aligned into subdivisions where every team, including Notre Dame, will be in either 4 or 8 eight conferences. Then the college playoffs will follow the NFL model and the polls will become fun talking points. Again, those in power failed again with redesigning the title game. At least in the NFL model, every team has the opportunity to go to the Superbowl regardless how talking heads place them in a top best teams list. We will be there, but it will take another painful decade.

Every year in the SEC there never is a majority consensus, throughout the entire season, as to which coach who has the most to prove. DB will do fine. The schedule favors Bama. I think he leads the team to win the majority of the big games and secure a strong recruiting class. My top five SEC coaches who have the most to prove in 2024: 5 Lebby 4 Heupel 3 Freeze 2 Elko 1 Napier

Every SEC expert gives their season prediction in the Spring. They adjust it in the summer, Sept, and Oct. Last Sep, almost every SEC expert counted Bama out of everything. They won the SEC title. Had a great season compared to offensive issues they never corrected. What's going on in Tusc is merely an example of the new-age in college football. We're going to see a whole lot more of coaches and players leaving programs for more money. The mess in the Bama ranks is not unique to Bama and it will be duplicated throughout the entire landscape. Bama will be fine. DB is a proven winner. Bama has more than enough talent to go to the playoffs. Bama has the best fan base, team facilities, and down-to-earth restaurant (City Cafe) in the SEC. With the new era of playoffs, we will also see more "favored" teams lose 1-2 games in the regular season and yet obtain a playoff spot. This is the new norm. And there's more disruption to come.

I know what's like to be in he-said, he-said controversy. But definitely not at that level. In such cases, the only way to find 100% clarity is to look at phone/email records. Then, interview the various parties from several interviewers. The bigger reality is not if an ESPN prominent figure influenced recruiting. It's common knowledge that the best recruits will go where the money is.

From the day Saban took the helm at Bama, a lot of guys wanted to play for him, even if they were not on his Secondary squad. Though some guys now look primarily at money, they still want to play under a coach who will treat them with respect. The Saban-Retirement-Effect is over. The ship jumping id over. DB is a very good man and a very good coach. He reminds me a lot about Coach K (Duke bball). Believe it or not, athletes want to be with a head coach who has high integrity, will do what he says, and will do whatever it takes for his players to be successful.

I bet the NCAA will use the FSU and TN situations to create "case law" going forward while bypassing all the members school to vote on such new policy. There is more to this than the NCAA just merely "going after Tenn." This is a big signal to Michigan that the NCAA isn't going away anytime soon. Don't be surprised if the NCAA has enough evidence (I think they do) to nail Michigan and keep them out of post season play for 1-2 years.

Many life-long Bama fans felt the loss of Saban's retirement at a very deep level, including me. However, some of us choose to stay committed to the program regardless of what happened at the coaching level.

Lanning is a very good ball coach. But I was never on board with him coming to Bama or the FSU coach. Lanning had a phenomenal qb and could not knock off Washington in both games. Washington's defense was porous. Now that Oregon is in the Big 10, they are going to have a more difficult path to the playoffs. Traveling eastbound is more difficult than going westward because the "reduced" hours from the time zone change is more disruptive to sleep than going westbound. Plus, their days will be "shortened" and trying to fit in practice and travel on a Friday will not be easy. Lanning is probably holding out to takeover the Florida, FSU, Miami, LSU, or Tenn job. FYI - Clemson is not longer a desired coaching destination if you're at the top tier.

"new era of the SEC." So true. Let's see how Bama competes when they will be challenged.

Indeed they are. If the other Big 10 schools have influence with the NCAA about this case, I bet serious sanctions will occur.

I believe the right thing to do is give new coaches plenty of runway and airspace to do their thing. The reality is human nature is different. I've coached a few teams and will attest this to be 100% true. Even when parents promised to give me, for example two years, they broke their word and gave me two games before the false accusations and scuttlebutt began. Everyone knows that no matter how much DeBoer preaches process and not focusing on the results (Saban's vibe, of course), all eyes are on the Georgia game 09/28/24.

No one knows at this point what the NCAA will do. However, the NCAA treated FSU with serious intent. When every Big 10 non-Michigan school complained about this back in the Fall, that in itself shows the evidence could be significant. When have you seen every other school in a conference "complain" about one school "breaking the rules"? Yeah, never. If the NCAA wants to levy sanctions against Michigan, they'll do it no matter who is the head coach and AD. Don't be surprised if Michigan receives a 1-2 year postseason ban.

Harbaugh got what he wanted in Ann Arbor, although there will always be an asterisk to the alleged illegal sign-stealing. For those who believe that issue will merely vanish, all you need to know is how the NCAA highlighted the NIL problem at FSU. Hence, Mr. Khaki pants wants out. Sanctions are coming for Blue.

"No problem at all. We are just going to enjoy this while it lasts." This should've been the title of this article - great line!

I can see Kiffin going to Florida and Prime going to Miami.

With all the offensive talent Bill O’Brien had at Bama, fans are still trying to figure out what happened back then. And Ohio St now has the guy that agreed to Jimbo's big buyout? That was a colossal failure. Anyone else see a big problem here?

Booker is 100% accurate. Bama is better off having the players who truly want to play for Bama instead of NIL money. The team dynamics in 2024 will be better off.

It's a big difference to leave sunny and warm California for the cold and wet of Big 10 games.

Yeah, try coaching high school athletics like I've done... you'll definitely be called worse and 95% isn't the truth. I wonder how Kiffin is going to re-arrange his offense for Dart. Dart can become very good. Ole Miss finally won 11 games. Let that sink in... for the first time in program history. Dart is one of the big keys to make that happen. Ole Miss has a very favorable schedule in 2024 except for playing in Death Valley. By the way, let's just be clear about this: there is only one Death Valley in the world and it's in Baton Rouge. If somehow Kiffin's DC can find a way to slow down powerful offenses, Ole Miss could be in the top 6 playoff teams. I would put Dart at #2 on this lest.

Niblack and Bond will soon realize they will be in a skill group that will probably have more competition if they had stayed with Bama. Yes, competition is good. But those two may not get the playing time they are wanting. With the "thinning out" of the ranks in Bama, it only makes sense to stay and improve your potential draft potential. But, if they are not loyal to their team, let 'em go.

I know the article is an opinion, and so it this one. KD is putting on the line his reputation and winning record to step-in for the GOAT. He is a winning coach (though the Washington defense last season was horrible). Smith and Fisch are good coaches, but their new gigs don't supersede KD at Bama. So, are you saying Bama did not make as good of a choice as Washington and Mich St? I don't agree.

DeBoer is not going to leave anything up to fate, just like Saban has done. He is going to get the best staff possible with the highest personal integrity. I think we're going to see a very explosive Bama offensive next year along with a hard-hitting defense. We might be going back to the days when we had Mac Jones and would fling the all whenever we could.

Why is Auburn on this list? Auburn has yet to prove it can win in the SEC with the new coaching staff, on a consistent basis. The reason why Bama has beaten Georgia so many times is because Bama is always relentless in those games. Georgia is a non-factor here... it's always been about which players don't want to quit. Top 5 should be: 5 no one cares 4 LSU 3 Ole Miss 2 Oklahoma State 1 Texas

The author is out of touch with the Bama fan base. I'm going to speak for 95% of the Bama fan base and say we do NOT want Dabo. The other 5% are merely trolls and will drop-off when we lose 3 games in a season.