Saban talks challenge of Alabama coordinator hires, adding ‘new energy’

The second annual Nick Saban Legacy Award show honored two lifers Tuesday night in Birmingham.

Both honorees, Bill Snyder and Vince Dooley, spent their entire college head coaching careers at a single stop. Snyder famously built Kansas State from the worst major college program to a powerhouse while Dooley won the 1980 national title during his 25-year reign at Georgia.

Asked before the presentation about that longevity, Saban on Tuesday spoke about the challenge of staying in the same place for such a long time. Entering his 17th season at Alabama, Saban spoke about the constant expectation while explaining his mindset of making each season a fresh start.

That comes with a new set of challenges, and in the case of the budding 2023 season, finding two new coordinators came first. It took a few weeks before Tommy Rees was reportedly tabbed Friday to replace offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien while the search took even longer before Kevin Steele filled Pete Golding’s spot on the defensive side.

“Yeah,” Saban said in a brief chat with reporters before the show, “it’s challenging. It takes time. You have to interview the right people. You have to make sure it’s the right fit.”

A few names emerged from both parallel searches. O’Brien was named the OC with the Patriots on Jan. 24 while Rees reportedly accepted the job Feb. 3. A few of the names that emerged from that search included Washington’s Nick Grubb and Akron head coach Joe Moorhead. It was a longer between the Jan. 13 departure of Golding and the Feb. 5 news of Steele’s addition.

“It’s new energy,” Saban said. “New ideas can come with new people. We love continuity but at the same time, you have to hopefully bring people in who bring a new energy, new ideas and be able to complement the things we do and help our players develop in a more positive way.”

Rees, 30, comes from Notre Dame where he played quarterback from 2010-13 and was an assistant coach from 2017-22. Steele is back for a third tenure at Alabama under Saban -- his second at defensive coordinator after holding the job in 2007.

Steele, 64, faced Dooley as both a player and coach at Tennessee and Snyder as an assistant at Nebraska in the 1990s and as the Baylor head coach from 1999-2002.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.