With Pete Golding Out, What Nick Saban Wants at Defensive Coordinator: Just A Minute

The coaching turnover at Alabama is in full swing, and one thing already stands out about the kind of replacements who may get hired.

The news of Pete Golding's exit from the Alabama Crimson Tide and becoming the new defensive coordinator at Ole Miss was anything but surprising as there had been more than rumblings in Tuscaloosa about his departure for over a month. 

A second rumor making the rounds is that former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will be coming back to Alabama in some capacity. 

Don't discount it. 

Pruitt was fired at Tennessee in January 2021 and he's  probably looking at a show-cause penalty from the NCAA, which would make it difficult for him to be hired by another college.

Difficult, but not impossible. 

Although the NCAA presented a notice of allegations to Tennessee in July, which included  18 Level 1 violations, the hearing with the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions hasn't happened yet. 

So there's been no show-cause penalty, and it would only pertain to the hiring process. If he's already employed somewhere it may not be much of a factor assuming there are no further surprises.

If any coach could take the second-guessing and public-relations hit of Pruitt's addition it's Saban.  

Moreover, the Tennessee situation could easily turn into a finger-pointing exercise between Pruitt and the school, depending on what happens and whether the coach wants to fight for his $12.6 million buyout, which UT refused to pay. 

That all could take years to resolve. 

We all know where Pruitt wants to be, as well. 

Meanwhile, Auburn has hired Hugh Freeze, who has a lot more baggage, and Texas A&M just hired Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator. 

If Alabama simply mandates that Pruitt won’t be directly involved in recruiting there's really not a lot anyone could say about it. 

If there's one trait that Saban's looking for with Golding's replacement it's a proven coach, and we all know he prefers hiring people he's familiar with. 

Consequently, some of the names being mentioned in the coaching search are Wisconsin defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jim Leonhard, Georgia co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann, who was a student assistant (2008-11) and graduate assistant (2011-14) at Alabama, and remember that Todd Grantham joined the Crimson Tide last summer as a defensive analyst.

The other trait that he looks for in his coordinators is experience at both the collegiate and NFL level, although its not a prerequisite. It wasn't with Golding, who was brought in from outside of the program as a young up-and-coming defensive mind, 

Regardless, look for Saban to sort of circle the wagons and talk about Alabama getting back to what made it so successful for so many years. It's a formula that's obviously worked well for him over the years.  

“I think the issue is more with the coaching staff as much as it is with the players,” Greg McElroy told the Paul Finebaum Show in November. “The players, look you shoulder some of the blame for sure, but I do get the sense, a little bit that, and I’ve talked to coaches throughout college football that have either been in Tuscaloosa or have a good understanding of what goes on in Tuscaloosa, or you know, are close personal friends of the program or whatever. I’ve talked to people all over the place and there is a lot of people that feel like Nick Saban and the staff right there, and currently in Tuscaloosa, the staff that’s currently there, doesn’t really understand necessarily the principles and the foundation, the bedrocks of the foundation from which the program was built.

“I think it’d be really beneficial to evaluate at the end of the season your coaching staff, and then evaluate who are some guys that helped build this thing from the beginning back in 2007? Joe Pendry is retired, OK, but you know, there’s a handful of other guys that are still out there coaching. Whether it be Bo Davis, who’s currently serving as a defensive line coach in Texas, whether it be Jeremy Pruitt, who, of course, was the head coach — and as far as I know, I don’t believe he has a show cause — the head coach of Tennessee. I don’t know, you would know that circumstance better than me, but if he’s available, he would be someone I would strongly consider bringing in.”

See Also:

Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding is Leaving Alabama

Why Bears Having First Pick Makes it More Likely Bryce Young Goes No. 1: All Things CW

Six Former Alabama Standouts Make the AP NFL All-Pro Teams