🏈 New beat writer for North AL (Decatur, Florence, etc.) Cliff Kirkpatrick —Here's his Sunday bit on S

[TerryP]

He's linked in the "Alabama Twitter" widget on the Today's News page...keep up with him there if you like his content.

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TUSCALOOSA — Stability has been an important reason for the Alabama football team’s success with three national championships in the last four years.

Kirby Smart is a pillar of that stability as he goes into his seventh season with the Crimson Tide, sixth as the defensive coordinator.
Smart, like most coaches, has aspirations to be the guy in charge, but he’s happy to work for coach Nick Saban, with Alabama being the third team they’ve been on together.

There’s a trust and respect between the two which creates national championship caliber defenses.

“Some of the best defensive coordinators have been places a pretty long time, so I don’t think that’s abnormal,” Saban said of Smart’s longevity. “Kirby has done a fantastic job here. The way we played defense the last five years is proof in the pudding. Those things don’t happen by accident. They happen for a reason.”

Smart not only knows his Xs and Os, he knows how to teach players what it takes to play a certain position.

He works with the inside linebackers for the Crimson Tide, but coached defensive backs and running backs earlier in his career.

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