atoms said:
Cal88 said:
His choice of DC is going to be important too.
I'm not sure about Lupoi's level of football smarts, given that he wasn't good enough for Saban to retain as a DC seven years ago. Hopefully he has improved since, or will at least have a staff in place that makes up for the weaker points in his set of skills.
Saban kept him on staff for 5 years and promoted him aggressively, gave him his first DC role at Alabama. The idea that Saban doesn't think much of him doesn't scan. And yes, it does look like he's improved quite a bit. His defenses at Oregon have been some of the best defenses Oregon has ever, ever had and top 10 in the country.
Saban kept promoting Tosh because he was doing a great job
recruiting at Alabama, the clear #1 program in college football at that time. Tosh leveraged his recruiting prowess into annual promotions from Defensive Analyst to position coach (OLB), to co-DC to sole DC.
However by the time he reached the position of sole DC,
his liability as a gameday defensive coordinator had exceeded his benefits as a talented recruiter. He was let go by Saban after just one year running the Bama D.
This article from a local Alabama.com journo covering the main sports franchise in his state fully agrees with my assessment above:
https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2019/01/why-tosh-lupoi-leaving-alabama-was-long-expected.htmlExcerpts:
Quote:
Lupoi, who played defensive line at Cal, had zero experience working with the defensive secondary, a critical component of Saban's defense. Lupoi was known as a tireless worker and talented position coach during his three years as Alabama's outside linebackers coach but there were concerns about whether he'd be up to the task in areas like situational play-calling and recognizing what an opponent is doing in-game and being able to adjust on the fly, which had been a big strength of previous Tide defensive coordinators Kirby Smart and Jeremy Pruitt.
However, Lupoi was the staff's best recruiter -- he's a big reason stars Tua Tagovailoa, Najee Harris and others picked Alabama -- and he was going to have interest from other programs. If Saban didn't promote Lupoi to defensive coordinator, he was likely to lose him. And after overhauling his staff to get more aggressive on the recruiting trail following the 2017 title, Saban didn't think he could afford to let Lupoi go.
Yet, a little more than a year after the bump in title and responsibilities, Lupoi is off to Cleveland to join Freddie Kitchens' staff as defensive line coach. Why would Lupoi take a lesser role and what is likely a sizable pay cut after making $1.1 million this past year? It was actually a decision months in the making after early struggles as Alabama's defensive coordinator.
It wasn't long after Alabama's disastrous national championship game loss to Clemson that word began spreading Lupoi was unlikely to return to Alabama next season as part of a massive staff shakeup. But the inevitable breakup didn't happen because of one bad defensive performance on a national scale. In fact, sources had indicated to AL.com for a while that Lupoi was likely to leave for another job after the season.
After some early struggles during the season, Saban stripped Lupoi of defensive play-calling responsibilities and handed them over to co-defensive coordinator Pete Golding, according to sources. Saban had poached Golding from UT-San Antonio in the offseason in part to alleviate concerns about Lupoi's inexperience with the secondary and as a play-caller. Still, word is Lupoi seemed overwhelmed during practices and didn't totally grasp situational play-calling. While he was still heavily involved in the defensive game-planning, there was no question Golding taking over play-calling represented a demotion of sorts for Lupoi barely into the start of his defensive coordinator stint.
... it was a move that had to happen. It was clear that Alabama's defense wasn't up to snuff this season and that reared its head in the ugly title game loss. Saban knew he needed to make an upgrade as far as defensive staffing, which is why the most recruiting-obsessed head coach in college football history seemingly didn't fight to keep his best recruiter.
In any case, I've said my bit and let's hope that the 7 additional seasons Tosh has had in various coaching stints with 4 different organisations have helped him improve his weak spots.
