There were more than a few raised eyebrows last week at a story in The Athletic where Nick Saban was playing “Where’s Waldo” trying to find Dan Enos before a staff meeting the Friday after losing to Clemson.
Bruce Feldman, quoting “people with knowledge of the meeting,” said Saban asked a few times, “where’s Dan?” The staffers knew, but the story said Saban didn’t know.
Saban, of course, has said absolutely nothing.
Enos, however, denied he left in the middle of the night in a tweet:
I would never leave an employer without telling them I was doing so. No ghosting here. Nothing but respect for CNS and Alabama. Bottom line, business is business and it was time for me to exit. Wish all the best to RTR, CNS and the program.
— Dan Enos (@CoachDanEnos) January 17, 2019
After the Crimson Tide was kicked sideways by the Tigers in the championship game, there has been a lot of speculation about a lack of continuity among Saban’s staff.
Now either coaches are showing maybe the most powerful coach in college football a blatant lack of respect or people at Alabama are making up stuff in an attempt to throw former assistants under the bus.
And, of course, Saban is saying nothing.
You would think, however, that if the story was true there would be confirmation from somewhere or somebody close to Saban lending a little credibility to the report.
But there’s been nothing.
Enos, who was Arkansas’ offensive coordinator for three seasons (2016-18), left Alabama after one season to join Manny Diaz at Miami.
It’s not really a big secret that Saban is demanding of his assistants. How demanding probably depends on each coach and whether he is as driven as the head man. Few people are.
One former coach told me a few years ago, “working for Nick there are a third of the coaches that develop heart conditions, a third either have marriage issues or get divorce and the other third suffer in silence.”
Not once in Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa has there been a mention of a family-type atmosphere like you hear around Dabo Swinney’s program at Clemson. Not a single time.
You also don’t hear recruits talk about that atmosphere, either.
In the last championship game, the Tide looked as unprepared and disorganized as any team Saban has put on the field. It was the worst loss he’s ever had and even he seemed to recognize what was going to happen early.
Now he’s got to rebuild a staff as well as find a way to handle the on-field reloading that Alabama has to do almost every year, it seems.
Yes, he’ll still have a top recruiting class. But there are even some interesting cracks in that as a couple of the top players in Alabama have gone to Georgia and Clemson in recent years.
As we’ve said, though, just getting the best players doesn’t mean a thing if they aren’t developed to improve. You’re not going to take a player straight out of high school and win much in the SEC.
All of this could become just more to the Saban Era at Alabama. Don’t look for them to drop far immediately.
But it could be a crack.
