And this was kind of my point I'd tried to make

by Domer99, John Wesley Powell's Expedition Island, Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 11:04 @ BillyGoat
edited by Domer99, Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 11:44

https://www.bluegraysky.com/forum/index.php?id=459253

Perhaps, incoherently and unconvincingly, but Alabama is playing an entirely different game than anyone else.

By my count Alabama has 14 "analysts" and that doesn't count any other support staff that aren't given formal coaching titles. The real number of other coaches without a formal coaching title is well north of 20. Alabama's media guide does a great job of obfuscating a true breakdown of staff dedicated for football activities.

For instance, Butch Jones, a former "analyst," is listed as being a "Special Assistant to the Head Coach." However, if you go to Alabama's official coaching staff, there's no Butch to be found. But he also wouldn't be tallied in this year's "analyst" pool. But those who would be? Well, that's none other than Major Applewhite (former UT OC), Javier Arenas (NFL player from 2010-16), Charlie Strong (former UT HC), Mike Stoops (Former OU DC), to name a few.

I've made this point in terms of program/resources and overall talent. There's no doubt Alabama has had way more talent than any other program in college football. Part of that is there are also resources dedicated to this effort. But catching Alabama is so much more than waving a magic wand and accumulating more 5* skill players. Do you need that? Yeah, but you need 3x the number of staff and resources too. And nobody is really touching that. And frankly, I think it's a bigger meta question many D-1 programs need to answer. There doesn't appear to be anything untoward or illegal about what the Tide are doing. But where are they at on the spectrum of college athletics? Perhaps that's a bit too rhetorical but I do wonder how well they are upholding their academic part of the school's mission.