In the off-season, there was interest voiced from the Smart family they were interested in the HC job in Cola. That leans me towards the opinion this isn't something "out of the blue," but wasn't set in stone either. (FWIW, a change in the staff at that position for the Tide wouldn't be a bad thing, IMO.)
On a little bit of an unrelated note: How many of you guys remember the talk we heard (stopped hearing it a couple/few years ago) about SOS retiring with the all-time SEC wins total? His retirement leaves him 25-30 wins short of Coach Bryant ... and I think seven SEC titles short of Bryant.
On a FWIW note: Bryant, Spurrier, Vaught, and Fulmer are the only coaches who have more conference wins than Saban (start of 2015 season) if my math is correct. Saban is roughly 10 conference wins away from passing Fulmer for 4th place, all time.