TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — We’ve got more parade video for you from today’s celebration for the Crimson Tide’s national champions:
Alabama’s cheerleaders and Kirby Smart:
Alabama’s Eddie Lacy (42) and offensive linemen:
Alabama’s AJ McCarron doing an interview while he walks the parade route. And, yes, some vendor photo bombed me on this one:
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This is my story for today’s print editions:
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Could Alabama’s lone loss of the year give Notre Dame the clue it needs to beat the Crimson Tide on Monday night?
Alabama’s Robert Lester says it’s important he and his fellow defensive backs don’t lose track of their receivers when Notre Dame’s quarterback starts scrambling. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)
Only a 29-24 home loss to Texas A&M blemishes Alabama’s record as the SEC champion Crimson Tide (12-1) prepares to face the top-ranked Irish (12-0) in the BCS National Championship Game. The Crimson Tide struggled early to track down the Aggies’ quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, and Notre Dame running back Theo Reddick figures his team learned something by watching that game.
“We can take advantage of their secondary,” Riddick told reporters Thursday morning during Notre Dame’s BCS session with reporters.
Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner said he’s glad Riddick is picking on the Tide’s secondary. He said if Notre Dame thinks the secondary is a weak link, the Tide cornerbacks and safeties will get a chance to prove the Irish wrong.
However, Riddick brings up an interesting point: Could Notre Dame take advantage of its running quarterback the way Texas A&M did Manziel?
Monday will mark the fifth time this year Alabama has faced a quarterback who rushed for at least 300 yards this season: Michigan’s Denard Robinson (1,166 yards), Ole Miss’ Bo Wallace (363), Western Carolina’s Troy Mitchell (433), Manziel (1,181), and Golson (305).
Alabama limited Robinson to 27 yards and beat Michigan 41-14. Wallace had minus-14 in a 33-14 loss to the Crimson Tide. Mitchell rushed for 6 as Alabama blasted Western Carolina 49-0. And even though Manziel finished with 92 rushing yards in the win over Alabama, he managed only 41 after the opening quarter, as the Tide adjusted its pass-rushing scheme.
However, Manziel completed 24 of 31 passes for 253 yards, and that’s what Alabama defensive players say is the real penalty when facing a running quarterback. They have to cover receivers longer, and during that time, someone might slip open, leading to a big pass play.
“That’s a great weapon for any team,” Alabama senior defensive end Damion Square said. “A quarterback like that can make something out of anything he calls. He can call a play that ends up busted, and then the quarterback can scramble around for five seconds and create havoc for our defense.”
Manziel did that on his first touchdown pass against the Crimson Tide. While he scrambled, Alabama lost receiver Ryan Swope, who found himself wide open in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
“The longer (Golson) scrambles, the longer we have to stay with our receivers,” Alabama safety Robert Lester said. “When you have to cover for four or five seconds, it’s easier to lose somebody.”
Clearly, Golson hasn’t had the season Manziel has, even though both are redshirt freshmen. Golson had 13 fewer touchdowns and about 2,100 fewer yards of total offense. But Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said Golson can make athletic plays that not many quarterbacks can.
“Extended plays are how they make big plays,” said Smart, whose defense leads the nation in fewest plays allowed of 10 yards or more, according to ESPN’s statistics information department. “You look at their scramble reel, there’s a lot of plays that the guy has really great arm talent.
“I can see in my mind three plays we watched over and over, he scrambles to his right, throws it all the way across the field to his left to a wide open receiver where the guy just lost him. They had him covered, and they just lost him.”
Alabama has used backup quarterback Blake Sims as the scout-team quarterback to simulate Golson. But Smart said the scout team struggles to duplicate what happens when the quarterback scrambles.
“It’s hard to simulate a play that extends that long,” Smart said. “You can’t do it, you really can’t. You just play with great effort and great discipline and do your job as a defense.”
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged BCS, Everett Golson, Kirby Smart, Robert Lester, Theo Riddick
This is my opinion column for today’s editions:
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Alabama ranks first nationally in total defense, and it’s a large reason the Crimson Tide will enter Monday night’s BCS National Championship Game as a 10-point favorite.
Alabama’s Kirby Smart deserves his share of the credit for the Tide’s performance on defense. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr. of The Decatur Daily)
But who deserves the credit? Is this Alabama head coach Nick Saban‘s defense, while Kirby Smart is little more than a glorified position coach who has the coordinator title and draws a nice salary? Or has Saban simply laid down the guidelines for Smart, who has taken them and imagined something that’s a little different and just as productive as what his boss might produce?
The truth is somewhere in between.
Certainly, the defensive-minded Saban has coached since 1973, two years before Smart was born. Saban coordinated his first defense in 1983 when Smart was 7. In addition, Smart had only one year of experience as a defensive coordinator (2001 at Division II Valdosta State) when Saban hired him in 2008.
It didn’t seem like such a big deal when Saban named Smart the defensive coordinator. After all, we all just knew for an absolutely certainty Smart wouldn’t be allowed to run the actual defense, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Sarcasm intended.
But if football is a class and Saban is the teacher, then Smart is the A-plus student. He willingly says Saban has made him the coach he is today. And that’s an awfully good one.
Part of managing a team includes replacing yourself on your coaching staff, and Saban, the ace defensive coordinator, has replaced himself with … an ace defensive coordinator.
Smart, 37, really does run Alabama’s defense. Of course, Saban has the final say over Smart’s plans. But has taken the base of knowledge Saban has given him and created something that can win big.
Because of that, Smart has earned such trust from Saban he gets more freedom to do what he wants than offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier. To be fair, Nussmeier has coordinated Alabama’s offense for only 13 games. Meanwhile, Smart has had five years to prove over and over he deserves the long leash Saban gives him.
“We speak the same language and have been on the same page for a long time, so I have total faith, trust and confidence in what he’s doing during the game in terms of calling the game as well as making adjustments,” Saban said recently.
It’s easy to get confused about who actually runs the defense because Saban almost never allows his staff members to speak to reporters. Saban always serves as the spokesman for the defense, leading reasonable people to believe he created it and runs it.
The no-interview policy is nothing against Smart. Instead, Saban has told reporters he wants one voice — and one voice only — to represent his program.
But when Smart gets a rare chance in front of reporters, as he did Thursday in a 40-minute session, he looks a little less like a Barney Rubble look-a-like and a little more like a potential head coach.
The players say Smart has shown he can be just as tough as Saban. When Smart first joined the Alabama staff, he handled the safeties. Robert Lester, now a senior and a three-year starter, was a freshman destined to be redshirted that season.
Lester said he struggled so badly to understand one day, Smart told him to get off the field.
But the players say Smart also teaches and analyzes exceptionally well, too. Lester said Smart telling him to get off the field helped focus his attention. Smart eventually got through to him, and you see the result today.
Linebacker Nico Johnson said when the defensive players leave the field, Smart is there, already giving the answers to any questions they possibly could have.
Johnson said it’s why he is called “Coach Smart.” He’s the coach of the defense, and he’s, well, smart.
When Smart leaves for a head coaching job, it won’t be gloom and doom for Alabama defense. Saban will find another bright young coach to handle.
But at that time, we’ll see if Smart has absorbed Saban’s biggest lesson — don’t forget to replace yourself. When Smart becomes the head coach, he’ll need his own ace coordinator to imagine another great defense.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — We’ve got video from the Orange Bowl committee of this morning’s news conference with Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and Crimson Tide defensive end Damion Square.
It’s a long video, however — 44 minutes, 34 seconds long. But if you wanted to watch it all, or scan and watch parts of it, we wanted you to have the chance:
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MIAMI SHORES, Florida — Alabama worked out this afternoon at Barry University, and we have three videos for you. The first features the inside linebackers going through a drill (18 seconds), while the second includes defensive coordinator Kirby Smart directing the inside linebackers (59 seconds). In the third, the Tide punt team gets some work, kicking to return man Cyrus Jones (36 seconds).
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Kirby Smart spent about 40 minutes at a news conference today. Here are some of the highlights:
Question: For two championships now being with Nick (Saban), what have you learned from him? And how much of it is your call as far as the play calling and the design of the defense?
Kirby Smart has worked as Alabama’s defensive coordinator since 2007. (Copyright photo by Gary Cosby Jr.)
Smart: Well, I’ll tell you this: I have become who I’ve become as a coach from working for Coach Saban. He does an outstanding job of managing our organization. There is nobody I could put him up against anybody in the country. His ability to facilitate, that’s great. He helps game planning on defense, he’s a great mind in the room.
Question: It probably feels like you get asked about this a lot but maybe it’s because we don’t talk with you a ton. But your name gets bandied about as a head-coaching candidate this time of year. Can you talk about what your goals are, and what’s your criteria for leaving a nice job at Alabama to be a head coach?
Smart: First off, I’d like to say, obviously all my time, emphasis and effort since the last game has been on this game since we knew we were playing Notre Dame. That’s all I can think about and all I want to worry about is winning this game for these guys. Ultimately my goal is my career is to be a head coach. Where that is, I have no idea. It’s not like I wake up every day trying to leave Alabama. I have the best non-head-coaching job in the country, period, because I’ve got a great administration, we’ve got a great facility. I want to be where I can win, and I know you can win at Alabama. I think that’s so important. I’m now 37, I forget how old I am sometimes, 36, 37, I think I just turned 37. I am so worried about Notre Dame, I don’t know my age. I don’t worry about where I’m going to be in three years or 10 years. I think if you win, that takes care of itself, and I’m not in such a hurry to run off and do anything that I don’t have a pressing issue. If I was 47, I might feel differently. But most important thing to me right now is winning championships and developing young men into better players and better people.
Question: Anytime you interview for a job, do you benefit from that? Do you learn from each step of that process?
Smart: I certainly think you do. I think the interview process is beneficial for you because you find out a lot more about the people you’re talking to, and you also find out a lot more about yourself and you get better experience doing that. I certainly think it’s a benefit. And Coach Saban has been extremely supportive of me in that process and has told me on a number of occasions that he knows that I’m going to have opportunities, and he’s happy for me for those opportunities.
Question: You were with Nick Saban in Miami with the Dolphins and in the NFL. How closely do you guys run this Alabama program to the same program you had in the NFL? And what are some of the benefits of running an NFL-style program at the college level?
Smart: I think it helps you with the development of your players. I think in the NFL everybody develops their players. In college it’s not always that way, as far as the number of reps you get in the off-season, how many reps do you give your threes and fours in your training camp, how many reps do you give those guys. To me the development of the younger players, so that when you lose five guys or six guys on defense, you’ve got guys ready to replace those, and I think his focal point is always, how are we going to make ourselves better at every position, and he’s always working towards that. And I want to say this: My stay down here was really great. I have a son, I’ve got twins at home, one named Weston, I named after where I lived in South Florida. He went yesterday to the city limits and got his picture taken right there, and he was really happy about that. He’s now five years old or fixing to be five years old.
Question: Given what you said about your aspirations in coaching, given what you said about Alabama, would your ideal situation, maybe your dream be to succeed Coach Saban at Alabama and coach there some day?
Smart: Well, I’m like Coach Saban, I don’t get into hypotheticals. That’s completely a hypothetical. I think Alabama is a special, special place, and it’s obviously a great place to coach. But as far as anything outside of that, I’m just worried about this game and being successful at Alabama.
Question: Can you give me a specific example of Nick Saban’s attention to the smallest detail, maybe getting ready for this game? And also, do you think he’s driven to be the greatest coach in the history of this game?
Smart: Oh, there’s no question. There is no question he is driven to be the greatest coach in the game. You’ve got me on the specific detail. There are so many. He is very detail oriented. I mean, down to the minute of practice, down to the — I mean, he wants every second of practice organized, every walk-through rep, it doesn’t matter if you’re in special teams and you’re doing walkthrough, he wants it organized, he wants to plan for it, he wants it on paper and he wants you to execute it. A specific one, you’ve got me on that, but there’s a lot of them in the last seven, eight years that he’s done and he’s harped on. And in the end they make your overall program more successful because you don’t leave any part of the program uncovered.
Question: You were asked earlier about the value of interviewing for other jobs. I know there are probably a lot of people back home who wondered about a month ago what was the value of you interviewing with Auburn, and did they ever actually offer you the job?
Smart: Well, first thing, I respect the University of Auburn and the opportunity they gave me to interview and talk to them as far as all the other stuff, the most important thing to us here is to focus on this game and get it done. I thought the interview process went great. Found out things I needed to know, and I’m sure they found out things they needed to know. As far as any of the other stuff, I’ll just leave that to us and them.
Question: Nick seems to have created a system within the system, particularly when it comes to the mental side of things. What kind of edge, particularly in a game like this, does that provide? And how deep does he go into the mental side of things?
Smart: He goes deep into the mental side. He spends as much time on that as he does defensively now, and I think that is where he’s grown as a coach, because I can remember being at LSU, I didn’t remember the mental side being so great. And now six, seven years later, it’s extended so far. He really believes in that, he believes in what you tell the players, he believes in the angle of approach of each game being different and getting their mindset right for the game. To me that’s where he has established himself as a coach ahead of the curve because of his ability mentally to create an advantage with his team. Whatever the mindset is, whether it’s physicality, whether it’s execution, whatever it is, he does a great job of conveying that to the kids. And he makes us realize as coaches, it’s not going to be about what we call, it’s not going to be about what we rep, it’s going to be about the mindset in Damion Square’s head that’s going to make a difference in this game.
Question: How much has it prepared you working under Nick down the road when you want to be a head coach versus having gone somewhere the way he positions and the way he challenges you?
Smart: I think it’s a great point. To me personally, my development to become a head coach will be much better working for Coach Saban than necessarily going somewhere else because you learn every day that you’re in there. As a teacher, and I can tell you even back to the Georgia game, halftime, we screwed it up. Hey, he admitted we should have called timeout to create an advantage to score in the end, but he always uses that to teach us. He doesn’t use it just for himself. Every day we do two-minute against each other, we come in, talk about clock management, what could we have done here? What should we have done there? He’s questioning not only us why we did this in this situation, but he questions himself. He does a great job of quality control of the entire organization, what could we have done differently, and I think sometimes when you go other places that don’t have the same support structure, you don’t get those — you don’t get that same experience. The experience that I’ve been able to gain through being with Coach is hey, this is how you run a major program, this is the way you do it and this is the way you question every part of your organization, therefore making it better. So I think his ability to run that program is really good.
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Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart embraces quarterback AJ McCarron after their 32-28 win in the SEC Championship Game. (AP photo by Dave Martin)
Alabama’s Kirby Smart ranks third nationally among the highest paid assistant coaches for 2012.
USA Today published a comprehensive survey of salaries, most of which included public-school data that is subject to open records requests.
Southern California defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin ranks first with $1.5 million, followed by Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris at $1.3 million. Smart makes $950,000 and is followed by LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis ($911,250). Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is fifth with $875,000 earned in 2012.
According to USA Today’s survey, Alabama has the highest-paid coaching staff nationally at $9,281,738, which includes head coach Nick Saban‘s salary of $5,476,738. Texas ($9,264,750) is second, followed by LSU ($7,865,652).
Alabama assistant coaches’ salaries
Smart, defensive coordinator/linebackers, $950,00
Doug Nussmeier, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, $590,000
Jeff Stoutland, offensive line, $395,000
Lance Thompson, outside linebackers, $375,000
Bobby Williams, special teams/tight ends, $350,000
Chris Rumph, defensive line, $310,000
Burton Burns, associate head coach/running backs, $290,000
Mike Groh, receivers/recruiting coordinator, $285,000
Jeremy Pruitt, secondary, $260,000
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Tagged Bobby Williams, Burton Burns, Chris Rumph, Doug Nussmeier, Jeff Stoutland, Jeremy Pruitt, Kirby Smart, Lance Thompson, Mike Groh
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The American Football Coaches Association has named Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart as the organization’s assistant coach of the year.
Under Smart’s direction, the Alabama defense ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring defense, No. 2 in total defense and No. 3 in rushing defense. Smart has worked at Alabama for six seasons, coordinating defenses that helped win national championships in 2009 and 2011.
He also participated in tornado relief efforts in 2011 and works with Nick Saban‘s “Nick’s Kids Fund.” That’s relevant to this award because community service is one of the criteria.
The AFCA award honors assistant coaches “who excel in community service, commitment to the student-athlete, on-field coaching success and AFCA professional organization involvement.”
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Inside linebackers at work under the direction of defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.
Alabama inside linebackers going through a drill.
After Saturday’s game at Tennessee, Vols fans complained their team couldn’t convert on third-and-five and similar plays.
One look at Alabama’s practice should tell them why — the Crimson Tide spends a decent amount of time working its linebackers and defensive backs in those scenarios. Alabama appeared to have its third-and-four and third-and-five packages down fairly well today. During the media viewing period, we didn’t hear Tide head coach Nick Saban once yell, “What are you doing?”
We also watched the inside linebackers, partly because they do some contact drills Wendesdays. Freshman Tyler Hayes continues to look good, which is why he is receiving some playing time. C.J. Mosley, Nico Johnson and Trey DePriest still are the standard bearers.
We enjoy watching Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart work with the linebackers. If you’re not fast, you’re in trouble, because he keeps his group moving quickly from drill to drill.
We saw a couple of NFL people at practice, including Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix, who visited with Alabama athletics director Mal Moore. Nix has strong Alabama roots. He was born in Carbon Hill and coached at Eufaula High. He coached Chattanooga’s football team in 1984-92 before moving into NFL management. A Bengals scout also attended practice.
Brett Hudson shot video of practice, which you can see below. The best part is when he filmed the linebackers and nearly got nailed by a stray football:
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We were allowed inside the gates for two periods this morning, and I spent most of it watching inside linebackers and defensive linemen. Here are a few notes to consider:
–Kirby Smart seems like a great teacher. Everything out of his mouth during the time I watched was instruction. I would think the average inside linebacker is learning more in one practice than he would in three at most other places.
–Freshman linebacker Denzel Devall looked good in what little bit of practice I saw, but it’s hard to beat C.J. Mosley and Nico Johnson. They’re good SEC linebackers and appear as if they would be ready if the schedule changed and Alabama had to play Michigan tonight instead of Sept. 1.
–Chris Rumph keeps a close eye on the defensive linemen. He had them working on a blocking-sled drill, which made it hard to evaluate individual players. But it was fun watching Rumph work them.
–Check below for video of Rumph and the above-mentioned sled drill:
This is likely the last in the series of practice videos from the spring. Check out defensive coordinator Kirby Smart working with the Crimson Tide linebackers. You’ll also see a cameo from Rob Ezell, the former walk-on receiver now working as an undergraduate assistant.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged football, Kirby Smart, practice video, Rob Ezell, spring practice
This is the final installment of the spring practice opening day series. This time you can enjoy Sal Sunseri and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart working with the linebackers including Dont’a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, C.J. Mosley and Nico Johnson.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged C.J. Mosley, Dont'a Hightower, football, Kirby Smart, Nico Johnson, practice video
Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart got another raise this afternoon. The UA Board of Trustees compensation committee approved a bump in pay from$750,000 annually to $850,000. Just a year ago, he was making $360,000.
His contract still calls for a $72,000 buyout if he takes any other job other than a head coaching position.
Strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran also got a raise from $225,000 to $290,000.
In other news, a certain group Alabama fans really don’t want Auburn to win the BCS National Championship Game. They have even made “Roll Ducks Roll” shirts in support of Oregon. See them here.
It only took about five hours to drive back down to Alabama from Louisville. Apparently that’s enough time for one Alabama assistant coach to leave and another was reportedly hired.
Now former Crimson Tide defensive line coach Bo Davis is headed to Texas to take the exact same job.
Don’t freshen those resume’s just yet. Multiple reports indicate Clemson defensive line back Chris Rumph is headed to Tuscaloosa.
Nick Saban issued a statement wishing Davis well but made no announcement of a replacement hire.
In other assistant coaching news, the contracts are up for discussion on tomorrow’s compensation committee meeting of the UA Board of Trustees. That likely means raises for defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran.
Read more in print tomorrow.
The whole Kirby Smart to Florida story has been floating around the interwebs for weeks now. But since assistant coaches and coordinators are muzzled from speaking to reporters, it was until this afternoon’s news conference before Smart could address the talk.
To get newcomers up to speed, Smart reportedly had discussions with new Florida coach Will Muschamp about the defensive coordinator’s job in Gainesville.
“Will and I talk all the time. He’s one of my best friends — I’ve known him more than 20 years now. He and I talk a lot and not really about me coaching with him, no.”
He went on to say the next step he’d like to take is into the head coaching world.
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