The Ups and Downs With Being No. 1, Alabama Knows Them Well: All Things CW

Getting to the top of the polls was one thing, but staying there is another, and there's no better expert on the subject than the legendary Crimson Tide football coach.

Christopher Walsh | Feb 18, 2023

The Ups and Downs With Being No. 1, Alabama Knows Them Well: All Things CW /

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This is compiled version of this week's All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — You kind of envision it like there being a knock at the door, followed by a hand waving a box of Little Debbies as a sort of preemptive offering.

"Hey Nick, you gotta second?"

Today of all days especially, Alabama Crimson Tide basketball coach Nate Oats should be thankful to have Nick Saban in the neighboring building on campus, as no one has more experience with having a team ranked No. 1 in the nation and dealing with that kind of spotlight.

Granted, there are some amazing coaches out there who have dominated his or her sport, and at different levels. but not like Saban at this level.

In case you missed it Monday, Alabama basketball is No. 1 in the polls for the first time in 20 years.

Alabama received 38 first-place votes from the 62-person media panel that makes up the AP Top 25, moving up two spots to leapfrog No. 2 Houston. The Cougars had 22 first-place votes to remain at No. 2, and Purdue slid down to No. 3 after losing to Northwestern. Somehow the Boilermakers landed two first-place votes. UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five.

The coaches' poll had 32 first-place votes that Alabama and Houston largely split with 15 each. No. 3 Purdue and No. 6 Virginia received the other two.

The NCAA's NET rankings had Houston on top of Alabama, with Tennessee at No. 3 despite being 19-6 and coming off back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Missouri. The KenPom rankings have it 1. Houston, 2. Alabama, 3. UCLA, 4. Tennessee and 5. Purdue.

So it's not like the Crimson Tide was a unanimous No. 1. It's barely the consensus poll choice. But No. 1 is No. 1 and a remarkable achievement, especially so late in a season.

It's also the first time that Alabama has had the big two of revenue sports, football and men's basketball, both at No. 1 at some point of the same academic year. A couple of years ago they were both SEC champions at the same time (2020-21) as well.

The Crimson Tide went on to reach the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, and last year Oats pulled in one of the nation's best recruiting classes. This season the Crimson Tide has knocked off two teams at No. 1 and is still undefeated in Southeastern Conference play.

Along the way, Oats seemed to be taking notes from Saban and with good reason.

But being No. 1 is a different animal. The tricky part comes from dealing with it and trying to stay there while everyone else tries to take you down.

Alabama football has been No. 1 at some point of every season since 2008, a statistic that is beyond remarkable, especially considering that previously the longest streak was seven (Miami Hurricanes from 1986-92).

The Crimson Tide has been ranked No. 1 109 times during that span, when only 13 other teams have had the top spot and no one more than 23 times. Saban has coached 98 games as the nation’s top-ranked team, which is 77 more games than any other active coach.

He's been there so many times that Alabama is often seen as the default team in the preseason rankings, like it was last year.

Saban said it was "nice to be recognized” but then downplayed it as much as possible.

“I don’t think it really matters much where you start the season. It’s much more important where you finish," he said. "I do think your team has to have enough maturity to know that it’s great to be recognized and respected as a team but this particular team hasn’t done really anything yet to determine what its identity is going to be. I think that’s key to sustaining over the long haul of the season is to play with some level of consistency to prove what kind of team you can have. It’s nice to be recognized but in reality, it means nothing.”

Here's what Oats said about the No. 1 ranking while making an appearance Monday on The Next Round:

“It’s nice to be [No.] 1,″ Oats said. “It really doesn’t mean anything, though. It doesn’t help you win an SEC championship. It’s recognition, that’s it.

“Coach Saban says it’s rat poison. We’ve got to keep our guys locked in.”

He gets it, in part due to Saban, but his players don't yet. There's no way that they could.

But this week the coach needed only to remind his players of one thing, the next game would be played on the same campus where football lost it's No. 1 status this past season, and never got it back: No. 10 Tennessee.

"In practice. Trying to get better."

- Coach @nate_oats on where he was when he heard that @AlabamaMBB was #1 in the AP Poll#RollTide | @Roger_Hoover pic.twitter.com/GHNeKhZEHz
— Crimson Tide Sports Network (@UA_CTSN) February 14, 2023

Alabama Basketball Doesn't Have to Look Far For Motivation

With the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, the college basketball season is ready to take center stage for both conference championships and then the betting bonanza known as March Madness.

Alabama fans won't necessarily want to hear this, but there were a lot of folks across the country who looked up on Monday and thought "Wait, Alabama's No. 1? When did that happen?"

It's ok, people are busy. Some still think Oats is still under a pile of snow in Buffalo.

In addition to the polls, the bracketologists have jumped on board with having the Crimson Tide on the top line. On Tuesday, the Sports Illustrated Bracket Watch had Alabama as the No. 1 overall seed for the first time.

But note the headline on the story: "The Battle for the No. 1 Overall Seed Heats Up."

That's not exactly a ringing endorsement. Writer Kevin Sweeney noted that the "margins are tight" and a win at Tennessee this week would be its second "elite" road victory, making "Alabama’s résumé hard to top."

Factor in the NCAA's NET rankings and KenPom, neither of which has the Crimson Tide at No. 1, and there's enough second-guessing going around.

So in which camp are the oddsmakers?

The latter.

SI SportsBook has Alabama fourth among NCAA Tournament favorites, behind Houston, Purdue and UConn (which is the flavor of the week among those looking for a more traditional basketball power).

At least it has the Crimson Tide as the clear favorite to win the Southeastern Conference.

SportsBetting.ag, also has Houston at the top at 7-1, but just by a small margin. Alabama is tied for having the second-best odds with Purdue at 8-1, while UCLA (12-1) and Kansas (14-1) round out the top five.

Additionally, the oddsmakers have posted odds for which conference will take home the title:

National Championship Winning Conference

AAC 3-1
Big 12 3-1
Big Ten 4-1
Pac-12 4-1
SEC 4-1
Field 6-1

The ACC is 9-1. What different times we live in.

2023 Will Be the Year of Scapegoat Coordinators in SEC

Coaching turnover is nothing new in college football, and is pretty much expected every year in the Southeastern Conference. With so many programs having extremely high expectations, and fans bases not known for their patience, the mental image of a revolving door always being in motion isn't much of a stretch.

That's what makes what's happening this offseason so interesting.

Only SEC one school felt the need to make a head coaching change, Auburn.

Another had to, unfortunately, with Mike Leach passing away, Mississippi State.

The number of head coaching changes at the the Football Bowl Subdivision is down in general, in part due to the large buyouts schools would have to pay to make a change.

For example, had Texas A&M decided to get rid of Jimbo Fisher prior to Jan. 1, the buyout would have been $85,950,000. It won't dip under $40 million until 2028.

Gus Malzahn’s buyout in 2020, which at the time was the largest paid buyout in college football history, was $21.45 million.

That'll pay for a lot of trips to Waffle House.

So where did a lot of SEC schools make their changes this season? At the coordinator level.

Granted, there's numerous reasons why the changes were made, including being hired by NFL teams. However, 10 of the 14 SEC schools will have new offensive coordinators in 2023.

Alabama: Tommy Rees
Arkansas: Dan Enos
Auburn: Philip Montgomery
Georgia: Mike Bobo
Kentucky: Liam Coen
Mississippi State: Kevin Barbay
Missouri: Kirby Moore
South Carolina: Dowell Loggains
Texas A&M: Bobby Petrino
Tennessee: Joey Halzle

The four exceptions are Florida, LSU, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and the first three all made a change last year. Consequently, Joey Lynch, who was been the Commodores since 2021, is the dean of the group.

Sort of.

While the turnover as has been surprising, familiarity has been a common theme with their replacements.

Coen had been successful at Kentucky before going to the Los Angeles Rams last year, a move that didn't quite work out. He's back in Lexington.

Enos is back in Arkansas, where he had a lot of success under Bret Bielema from 2015-17.

With Todd Monken going to the Baltimore Ravens this week, Kirby Smart quickly promoted Mike Bobo, who had served as an analyst last season.

With Will Muschamp at defensive coordinator, not only does Smart have two prominent Georgia alumni serving as his generals this season (and maybe for a while), but the offensive and defense will be led by two men who are probably much better as coordinators than as head coaches.

For those who are scoffing at the return of Bobo, don't. The offense wasn't the problem all those years when he worked under Mark Richt including as offensive coordinator from 2007-14. Some of the quarterbacks he squeezed a lot out of included David Greene, DJ Shockley and Aaron Murray, plus he obviously did pretty well with Matthew Stafford. The only question is how well he can run Monken's offense?

Even Saban went the familiar route on the defensive side, bringing Kevin Steele back a third time to be the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator.

Usually when we start looking at the upcoming season, and gauging which teams can challenge for the league title, stability is considered an important trait especially on the offensive side. Everyone covets having a returning coordinator and starting quarterback whenever possible, but almost no one will have that in 2023.

The list might end up being Jayden Daniels at LSU, and AJ Swann at Vanderbilt. Jaxson Dart is back at Ole Miss, but Lane Kiffin has added a pair of transfers to challenge him.

Among the quarterbacks who will be in the NFL draft include Alabama's Bryce Young, Kentucky's Will Levis, Florida's Anthony Richardson, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker and Georgia's Stetson Bennett.

As for what it means in terms of coaching turnover? Everyone's looking for immediate answers, and not everyone's going to find them.

When that happens, we already know where the blame is going to fall.

After 50-Plus Years in Football, John Mitchell's Legacy Immeasurable

Wednesday marked the end of an era. Not just for the Alabama Crimson Tide, but football as a whole.

John Mitchell announced his retirement after 50 years as a coach, including 29 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It marked the end of the football journey for the man who was the first Black athlete to play football for the Crimson Tide. The program's first Black All-American, and Black team captain was also, fittingly, Alabama's first Black assistant coach, all under Paul W. "Bear" Bryant.

"I wanted to go to graduate school, law school, and I called Coach Bryant," Mitchell told the Steelers' website. "I told him I wanted to go to graduate school, but since I didn't have the money, I wanted to talk to him about getting a job around the athletic department, anything I could do to earn money and go to school. He told me to come see him.

"I can remember it like it was yesterday. Coach Bryant had a nice big office. He was at his desk with his glasses on his nose, and he never looked at me. He said, if I offer you a full-time job on my staff, would you take it? I'm 20 years old, I just got through playing for him six months ago. I'm standing there, he's not looking at me, and he says again, if I offer you this full-time job will you take it? I said, yes sir. He groomed me to be a football coach."

That was the second time Bryant significantly changed Mitchell's life, the first obviously being when he was offered a scholarship as a transfer. At the time, he was getting ready to go play at USC when the coach stepped in.

"A white person wouldn't have any reason to come (to my neighborhood) unless they were looking for someone to do some work for them, cut the grass, things like that," Mitchell said. "But they came to my house. I visited with them and a week later I took an official visit to Alabama, met Coach Bryant, when it was my mom, my dad and myself."

Mitchell had grown up in Mobile dreaming of playing for the Crimson Tide, but instead ended up being a two-time Junior College All-American at Eastern Arizona Junior College. The attraction of playing close to home, so that his family would be able to see the games, was too big to pass up.

"The thing that eased my mind, and I can remember it like yesterday, is we sat in Coach Bryant's office and he (told my parents) if your son comes here, he's going to have some problems," he said. "The only thing I ask of him is if he does have a problem, come see me first. That is all I want. I want him to see me first. I will handle it. When I was there, I never had a problem."

His college coaching career included stops at Arkansas, and LSU, where in 1990 he became the first Black defensive coordinator in Southeastern Conference history. Plus from 1983-85 he was the linebackers coach of the Birmingham Stallions in the USFL.

Then it was on to the National Football League, first as an assistant under Bill Belichick in Cleveland — yes, he and Saban were on the same coaching staff from 1991-93 — and then under Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin with the Steelers.

"I'm grateful to the Rooney family for the wonderful opportunity to coach and work for the Steelers for nearly 30 years," Mitchell told the Steelers' website. "It was truly an honor. I'd also like to thank Coach Tomlin for giving me the opportunity to stay with the franchise when Coach Cowher retired. I will treasure my time in Pittsburgh and appreciate everyone affiliated with the organization."

Mitchell started as the team's defensive line coach, then served as assistant head coach/defensive line coach and promoted to assistant head coach in 2018. During that time he earned two Super Bowl rings in four appearances.

"I'm not sure that I can offer sufficient praise and admiration for Mitch – as both a man and football coach," Tomlin said. "Mitch has been a central figure in the success of the Pittsburgh Steelers for nearly three decades. He has coached some of the best players in this franchise's illustrious history, and each one of them, to a man, would tell you their success was a direct result of not only Mitch's coaching acumen, but also his mentorship, leadership and character.

"Those traits were most evident when he chose to attend the University of Alabama. Mitch's path not only changed his life, but the lives of so many others. It's impossible to truly measure his impact on the game, but I'm eternally grateful for the 16 years we worked together and wish him and (his wife) Joyce the absolute best in retirement."

"Coach Mitch has been a pivotal member of the Steelers organization, in a variety of roles, for the better part of 30 years," Steelers President Art Rooney II said. "When you consider his path, as both a player and coach, Mitch created opportunities in football for young Black men that quite honestly didn't previously exist. He has left an imprint on this franchise, and the sport and culture of football, that will continue well beyond his retirement."

Mitchell was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. At the time, he was quoted as saying: "I'm from the state of Alabama, and this is big. The state of Alabama is putting me, John Mitchell, a black kid from Mobile, in their sports hall of fame. There's nothing bigger in my life.

Last year, Alabama honored Mitchell and Wilbur Jackson with a plaque at the end of the Walk of Champions at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The special dedication was held on A-Day, 50 years after he graduated.

"Everything I do as a coach came from Coach Bryant," Mitchell said. "Everything. When I was on his staff, I had the chance to ask him a lot of questions that as a player you wouldn't ask. He taught me how to become a coach. My players I coached here know because I talked to them about him."

How Much of a Seedings Hit did Alabama Basketball Take With Loss?

All indications are that Alabama's time atop the polls may be a short one following the Crimson Tide's loss at Tennessee, but otherwise the impact will be minimal in terms of postseason status and seeding.

After all, the Volunteers were favored to win at home, plus the chances of getting an officiating crew that would allow that kind of physical play on a neutral floor aren't very good — although yes, it could happen.

Oats started laying the groundwork for that by saying Friday that freshman forward Brandon Miller is "getting fouled off the ball more than anyone in college basketball this year." The Crimson Tide already knows what's coming the rest of the season because the word is out that maybe the only way to have success against Alabama is be physical and force turnovers.

Few teams have the ability to do so at the same level Tennessee did, but regardless the type of teams that end up in Alabama's side of its brackets may be a lot more important than the Crimson Tide's seeding in either the SEC Tournament or March Madness.

As a final footnote, one has to think the Crimson Tide would love another shot at the Volunteers away from the Tennessee campus. A rematch in the SEC Tournament would still be in the Volunteer State, but at least not in Knoxville.

Overall, the bad news from the Tennessee loss is that Alabama squandered a chance to essentially lock up the SEC regular season title. The lead atop the standings over Texas A&M is down to one game (12-1 compared to 11-2) and the teams will close the regular season against each other in College Station on March 4.

Here's how the SEC Tournament projects heading into this weekend:

Projected SEC Tournament Pairings

March 8

Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed; Ole Miss vs. LSU
Game 2: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed; Georgia vs. South Carolina

March 9

Game 3: No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed; Arkansas vs. Florida
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 5 seed; Kentucky
Game 5: No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 seed; Mississippi State vs. Vanderbilt
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 6 seed; Missouri

March 10

Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 seed; Alabama
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 4 seed; Auburn
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. No. 2 seed; Texas A&M
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. No. 3 seed; Tennessee

March 11: Semifinals

March 12: Championship

As for March Madness, with Purdue losing it's third-straight game Thursday night, both Sports Illustrated's Kevin Sweeney and ESPN's Joe Lunardi had Alabama back as the tournament's top-overall seed, and No. 1 in the South Regional, on Friday.

NCAA Net and KenPom rankings still had Houston at No. 1 and Alabama second but the Crimson Tide has both a huge strength of schedule and head-to-head advantages.

The NCAA tournament selection committee will release its current top teams Saturday afternoon, which will give insight into what it highly values this season.

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

This will have a very strong "Did you know" Crimson Tide feel to it:

1) Collin Sexton will be part of NBA All-Star Weekend as part of Team Jazz for the 2023 Skills Challenge. He, along with Jazz teammates Jordan Clarkson and Walker Kessler will be up against a team of rookies (Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey and Jabari Smith Jr.) and Team Antetokoumpo (Giannis, Thanasis and Alex, who plays in the G League). Saturday's event will begin at 7 p.m. CT. (TNT) at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City,

2) Dr. LeNá Powe McDonald was named Associate Commissioner for Academic Relations for the Southeastern Conference. She had been Alabama's Director of Internal Affairs and UA System Liaison since 2019. "We are excited to have Dr. LeNá McDonald join the Southeastern Conference staff in the critical role of supporting and promoting programs and activities designed to highlight the teaching, research and service accomplishments of students, faculty and staff in the SEC," commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. "Dr. McDonald is uniquely qualified to lead our efforts to highlight the endeavors and achievements of the SEC's world-class universities."

3) Did you know that former Crimson Tide running back Josh Jacobs is a member of a small group of Filipino Americans in the NFL? "It's definitely big, man," Jacobs said at the Pro Bowl, per Steve Angeles of TFC News Las Vegas. "I mean, just because my grandma growing up and my dad kept us along with the culture out there and let us understand where we come from and things like that. So with not a lot of us in professional sports and things like that, it's good to be a prominent advocate for who we are and what we believe in, so that's dope." Jacobs and Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers were the only Filipino American representatives at this year's Pro Bowl.

4) The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and NCAA announced the activation of three adaptive sport programming initiatives to be implemented across the Women's Basketball Final Four, Drake Relays and ITA Fall National Championships, with exhibitions held at all three events. Not only will Crimson Tide adaptive athletics be involved, but athletic director Greg Byrne is part of the implementation team to analyze the impact of the Para-College Inclusion Project in the fall of 2023.

5) Yes, Byrne is still on the selection committee for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, but he has to leave the room whenever the Crimson Tide is discussed. His term doesn't end until 2026.