🏈 LB Coach Lance Thompson leaves UA (to UT) (merged threads)

[TerryP]

Correct on the $. When I first read of him leaving money wasn't known. Now it is. Yes, double the salary is huge. I still can't fathom that kind of money for assts., but I think UT is making it known that they're tired of bowing down to UGA and FL every year.

To me Lance is/was much more important than Major. Lance has been around much longer, has been at Alabama before and is the recruiter that Major wasn't due to those factors.

I hope all of you are right, and that we won't skip a beat. I might be thinking too negatively, but I think some of you are thinking too Kool-aid-ish. I just don't know that you plug a possible unknown into LT's spot, and we don't miss a beat on the recruiting trail (at least not in the short run).

I guess we'll just have to wait to see who takes over that responsibility. I have no idea what the Mobile area holds for the next couple of years, so maybe it won't be a huge deal in the short term anyway.

What I see is a lot of people rushing to judgment without understanding the picture. In fact, it's far too common in our fan base right now to look a the tree instead of the forest.

Thompson's experience in Alabama seems to be something one could point to and use as reason for his success in Mobile.

BUT, if that were the case, why didn't Saban use Thompson in the Mobile area when he was at LSU? Why didn't Thompson have success in grabbing some kids out of the panhandle when he was at Central Florida?

What is being completely ignored here is the reason we didn't have much of a presence in our classes from that region isn't because of the person recruiting that area. It was the people at the helm of the program not paying attn. and putting effort into recruiting that area.

Mobile, has traditionally over the last few coaches, been an area that Auburn has had their way with. James Willis specifically. But, when someone outworked Willis on other recruits (besides those that Lance recruited) we pulled them in as well.

Short term effect? There is only one player out there that is still on our radar that Thompson was recruiting. And, he's said time and time again that the reason Bama is high on his list is because we have a head coach who is also a defensive-back minded coach.

This isn't kool-aid I'm drinking and I'm not looking through Crimson-colored glasses.

However, I do see people looking at Thompson and making more out of this than it deserves. It's about like putting a $75 dollar price sticker on a bottle of Sutter Home and calling it "quality champagne," or calling Milwaukees Best a domestic beer.

What really gets me in all of this is the main point of order. We can, and will, do better with the coaching on the field. He's a solid coach, but by no means was he hired by UT for his coaching acumen.

Doesn't anyone find it ludicrous that the main point of the conversations here are "lost a good recruiter" but no one is saying "we lost a great linebacker coach?"

 

[ORANGEADDICT]

could be worse guys.....you could have a young unproven head coach......im still on the fence.

 

[Teague13]

I will give this to coach Saban,if he does go out and get an unknown guy it looks like he does a great job of training them on his plan.Like i said i think we will run exactly what Saban wnats to run on every side of the ball.All he does is hire them and make em do it his way and then they get better jobs.How could that not be the best situation for everybody.I remember Coach Bryant said when being interviewed that he loves to lose coaches because he gets them better jobs( not saying these guys got better jobs or more money but they may be in a happier place they wanted to be in and to me thats a better job).The important thing is to keep teaching these kids how to turn into responsible men and be the best football player they can be.You do that and winning comes automatically.I think Saban has this process down pat.I think he does not have to depend on people to be there long term.I could be wrong about all this,but it seems to be what he has done at every college stop and worked every time,and its working here.Roll Tide and good luck to the next guys we bring in and get them there dream jobs!!!( That was a joke) :lol:

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the journey into the forest, Terry. I have not seen this one before. You make some good points about his time at LSU and emphasize the true reason for our ultimate success in Mobile....Nick Saban and his focus there. Trust me I know that for a fact. I don't expect us to diminish our focus there one bit.

I'm starting to think I do value Lance Thompson more than others, and to be honest it's apparently just a personal thing. I've liked him since stop one and followed him somewhat at Tech as well. I probably am putting too much value into "super recruiter" as well. We'll see. The only thing I would have a problem with as a recruit's parent is his frequent moving and the lack of a proven commodity at head coach at UT. I'm hoping that will somewhat hinder his recruiting success at UT. To say that I'm not a little worried about him and Coach O recruiting against us in our own back yard is not truthful. Again, time will tell though.

I have no doubt in Coach Saban's ability as head coach. The staff turnover will never be rejoiced on my end though. Say what you will but if you have the right people in place for a longer period of time you're bound to have more success on and off the field. Stability in a top program is rarely a negative.

 

[alagator]

Doesn't anyone find it ludicrous that the main point of the conversations here are "lost a good recruiter" but no one is saying "we lost a great linebacker coach?"

To connect this to another thread, perhaps the reason no one is saying 'we lost a great linebacker coach' and deeply troubled with the conversation that we 'lost a good recruiter' is because, as so many in that other thread correctly noted, Saban wins games by 'out talenting' his opponents and does not 'out scheme' them.

By taking away the assistant with far-and-away the best track record of the most important part of Saban's 'process,' of course we are going to focus on the talent acquisition instead of the talent development job responsibility.

Also, and this is a friendly jab, but you were very near propaganda with your choice of adverbs. Or was it just unintentional that you affixed 'great' to Thompson's linebacker coaching skills and just 'good' to his recruiting talents - when the truth of the matter is just the opposite. Correctly applying the modifiers we would have a better understanding of the fans being less concerned that we are losing a 'good linebacker coach' and focused more on losing a 'great recruiter.'

 

[TerryP]

Doesn't anyone find it ludicrous that the main point of the conversations here are "lost a good recruiter" but no one is saying "we lost a great linebacker coach?"

To connect this to another thread, perhaps the reason no one is saying 'we lost a great linebacker coach' and deeply troubled with the conversation that we 'lost a good recruiter' is because, as so many in that other thread correctly noted, Saban wins games by 'out talenting' his opponents and does not 'out scheme' them.

By taking away the assistant with far-and-away the best track record of the most important part of Saban's 'process,' of course we are going to focus on the talent acquisition instead of the talent development job responsibility.

Also, and this is a friendly jab, but you were very near propaganda with your choice of adverbs. Or was it just unintentional that you affixed 'great' to Thompson's linebacker coaching skills and just 'good' to his recruiting talents - when the truth of the matter is just the opposite. Correctly applying the modifiers we would have a better understanding of the fans being less concerned that we are losing a 'good linebacker coach' and focused more on losing a 'great recruiter.'

Propaganda... :lol:

Never.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

I've not really chimed in yet, like anyone noticed or not , but I have a couple comments I'd like to share.

About losing assistants: When you have the kind of remarkable turnaround that Alabama had this season, that is going to draw a lot of attention. I felt pretty certain that we would lose someone after the year, and Steele seemed like a reasonable guess as much as anyone. Do any of you think McElwain has been approached? I'm sure he has, perhaps not. But he puts together a significant strong offensive team next year, the phones will start to ringing. It's just how bigtime football is now. Really, what teams are trying to do in pro and college is find out what is working at one place, so they can apply if to theirs. If it is truly the assistants that are creating the success, then the results will show when they leave. Tennessee is a fine example of how losing an assistant changes the performance; see David Cutcliffe. But LSU continued a high level of success even after Coach Saban lost some assistants to other places. Alabama will do the same. We will miss those guys, but we will miss Andre Smith and JP Wilson's leadership much more.

I'm concerned mostly about making sure recruiting is being handled and managed in the way that most benefits The U of A. We don't want anything going on with any of our recruiters, coaches, or players, that could be misinterpreted.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

could be worse guys.....you could have a young unproven head coach......im still on the fence.

I think you and other UT fans probably should be looking at the job Kiffin does with a close eye the next couple seasons. If he recruits well, which he undoubtedly will do now with Thompson and Orgeron there, you WILL have even more of the great talent UT has always had. You might have the best two recruiters for the southeast that are in college football now. But I wonder about their ability to coach. We shall see, but I predict HUGE gains for UT in the next couple of seasons, perhaps in spite of Kiffin, perhaps because of Kiffin.

 

[thebutcher]

I wasn't fired up about Thompson hire , or the Steele hire for that matter, but when i heard Saban was the man, yeah , I got pretty excited , guess what? I still am! does he love UA like I do? No..... Can he coach, and recruit better than me? Hell yeah!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Correct on the $. When I first read of him leaving money wasn't known. Now it is. Yes, double the salary is huge. I still can't fathom that kind of money for assts., but I think UT is making it known that they're tired of bowing down to UGA and FL every year.

To me Lance is/was much more important than Major. Lance has been around much longer, has been at Alabama before and is the recruiter that Major wasn't due to those factors.

I hope all of you are right, and that we won't skip a beat. I might be thinking too negatively, but I think some of you are thinking too Kool-aid-ish. I just don't know that you plug a possible unknown into LT's spot, and we don't miss a beat on the recruiting trail (at least not in the short run).

I guess we'll just have to wait to see who takes over that responsibility. I have no idea what the Mobile area holds for the next couple of years, so maybe it won't be a huge deal in the short term anyway.

(snip)

Doesn't anyone find it ludicrous that the main point of the conversations here are "lost a good recruiter" but no one is saying "we lost a great linebacker coach?"

My point exactly with the Applewhite reference.

When Major left, people were panicking that we would lose Star Jackson, and Ian's blog said something about like it does now with Trent.

We all know what happened.

Thompson is an average coach and solid recruiter. I really don't know that he is that *special* in terms of recruiting. He is good, but so are many others. Coaching under Saban will make you better than you are because of the level of commitment and amount of work he requires from you.

If you do well enough to be on Saban's staff - chances are you are going to be doing pretty good.

 

[DIXIEDARLING]

I wasn't fired up about Thompson hire , or the Steele hire for that matter, but when i heard Saban was the man, yeah , I got pretty excited , guess what? I still am! does he love UA like I do? No..... Can he coach, and recruit better than me? Hell yeah!!!!!!!!!

I hate to admit it but my sentiments were the exact same. I love the University of Alabama and I love Nick Saban and the heck with any coach who comes and goes if they do not want to be apart of the TIDE we need to accept it and move the H. ON.

 

[bamascott2]

I don't recall that I've ever heard a recruit say "I'm going to Bama because of Lance Thompson" or "I've wanted to play for Kevin Steele since Pop Warner ball."

I have heard them say that CNS is pretty damn impressive and that Bama is on the way back and they want to be a part of it.

We'll be fine.

RTR!

 

[Guest]

I don't recall that I've ever heard a recruit say "I'm going to Bama because of Lance Thompson" or "I've wanted to play for Kevin Steele since Pop Warner ball."

I have heard them say that CNS is pretty damn impressive and that Bama is on the way back and they want to be a part of it.

We'll be fine.

RTR!

Those coordinators and coaches also recruit. According to Rivals, Thompson was responsible in the successful recruitment of three five-star players this season, as well as two last year and six four-star players last year.

It doesn't come down to wanting to play for them, because at the end of the day Nick Saban is in charge. However, these coaches are the one talking to these kids, and the ones that develop them.

 

[Guest]

Nice hold in you avatar

 

[Guest]

Nice hold in you avatar

:lol: :shock: nice catch

 

[NTT]

My thing is with a recruiter telling a kid about a school and saying how great it is and how he needs to come to bama. Then they guy leaves and goes to another school and starts saying things about that school and they are some of the same things he said about the other. If I am that kid then the trust issues pop up with this guy. I mean you tell me this then 1 week later you tell me this. Lets not forget that Saban visits these guys as well. Its not like Lance is the only face they knew at Bama.

 

[ORANGEADDICT]

could be worse guys.....you could have a young unproven head coach......im still on the fence.

I think you and other UT fans probably should be looking at the job Kiffin does with a close eye the next couple seasons. If he recruits well, which he undoubtedly will do now with Thompson and Orgeron there, you WILL have even more of the great talent UT has always had. You might have the best two recruiters for the southeast that are in college football now. But I wonder about their ability to coach. We shall see, but I predict HUGE gains for UT in the next couple of seasons, perhaps in spite of Kiffin, perhaps because of Kiffin.

man i hope your right. I just want us to be competitive.

 

[firestorm]

That's another reason why you should not be concerned a lot on Lance Thompson's departure.

If there is one thing Nick Saban understands, it's recruiting

RTR,

 

[Swamptick]

It doesn't come down to wanting to play for them, because at the end of the day Nick Saban is in charge. However, these coaches are the one talking to these kids, and the ones that develop them.

Not the only ones. Coach Saban, as you probably know, is VERY heavy handed in the recruiting as well as developing the young men.

 

[Guest]

It doesn't come down to wanting to play for them, because at the end of the day Nick Saban is in charge. However, these coaches are the one talking to these kids, and the ones that develop them.

Not the only ones. Coach Saban, as you probably know, is VERY heavy handed in the recruiting as well as developing the young men.

Your right, but having Thompson made Saban's job a lot less stressful I'm sure.

My hopes are the Tennessee coaching staff will implode and blow the program to bits, but it doesn't look like it.