Nick Saban Discusses Bill O'Brien, New Coaching Hires at Alabama Football

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Since Alabama football's 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship, the Crimson Tide has experienced a huge turnover in coaches departing, with seven moving on to new opportunities in the weeks following the game.

During his National Signing Day press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Alabama coach Nick Saban addressed the matter of departing coaches, thanking them for their effort that they gave during their time with Alabama.

"Well first off, the staff that we had last year did a phenomenal job and we're happy for those that got better opportunities," Saban said. "Several guys got head coaching jobs and one guy got a coordinating job so we're excited about the opportunities that they got for themselves."

Saban then exclaimed his enthusiasm for the new hires that he has added to itself while simultaneously dismissing the notion that the NFL coaches that he has brought on will not be able to adjust to football at the college level.

"I'm also excited about the people that we were able to hire," Saban said. "A lot of questions have been asked about 'Well these are NFL guys' well [Steve Sarkisian] and Kyle Flood were NFL guys when we hired them, too. But they've been in college, they have college experience, they know the college game and when I think it comes to offensive coordinator — quarterback development — you need knowledge and experience and I think offensive line is the same kind of deal."

One of the key hires for Saban's staff this offseason has been Bill O'Brien as the team's new offensive coordinator. The Crimson Tide saw great success under Sarkisian at the position in 2020 and O'Brien brings both college and NFL experience — albeit with a better track record than Sarkisian did back when he was hired in 2018.

Saban spoke highly of O'Brien on Wednesday, noting his accomplishments in the NFL at both the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans as well as at the college level in Penn State.

"Well if you look at Bill O'Brien's track record, he was a really successful college coach," Saban said. "He was a really good coordinator in New England when he was offensive coordinator for the Patriots. He did a tremendous job as the head coach at Penn State in one of the most difficult circumstances that anybody could ever be in after the Joe Paterno deal and he did a really good job in Houston in terms of I think they went to the playoffs three or four years.

"So talking about a guy that has a really good track record in terms of whatever his responsibility has been and he's someone that I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for so we felt very fortunate that the timing of the situation allowed us to hire somebody like that. So I'm excited about it and I think it's a great addition to our staff here."

Alabama football, if it follows the patterns that is has established in recent years, is slated to being spring practices sometime in mid-March.