Greg McElroy calls Alabama's offensive coordinator hire 'one of the biggest hires of Nick Saban's career'

Following Bill O’Brien accepting the job as the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator, Alabama is now tasked with finding a new offensive coordinator for the ninth time in the Nick Saban era. There’s no doubt that who Saban decides to hire will be important for the Crimson Tide, but current college football analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy believes it may be historical.

“This is, I think, one of the biggest hires of Nick Saban’s career,” McElroy claimed. “Maybe not to the same extent as the 2014 Lane Kiffin bring the offense into the new era hire, that was the biggest there’s no denying that. But you think about what is coming.”

McElroy believes Alabama’s next hire is so crucial for two different reasons, the first being the monumental expectations that are no synonymous with the success of the Crimson Tide under Saban.

“Bama now, still, national championship aspirations every single year, that’s not gonna change for as long as Nick Saban’s there they’re going to be in the mix to win a national championship. But where are they going to go?” McElroy asked. “Obviously they’re gonna the Alabama offense right, but there’s been buzz and rumors about Jeff Lebby being in the mix, there was rumors about maybe Garrett Riley, if he didn’t take Clemson would he have potentially been in the mix in Tuscaloosa? Those were all rumors I don’t know whether they were true, if they’re substantiated or not doesn’t necessarily matter.”

The second reason has more to do with the identity of the Crimson Tide, as McElroy detailed the crossroads Saban is now faced with regarding which direction Alabama should go about with their style and scheme of the offense.

“What matters though is if Nick Saban hires Jeff Lebby for instance, then Jeff Lebby’s offense does not really resemble anything that Alabama’s done traditionally. He’s a tempo guy that wants to hyper speed and there’s some aspects of the Baylor system that Tennessee‘s running, obviously Oklahoma‘s running it, TCU ran variations of it,” McElroy said. “That Baylor system is everywhere but that’s not who Bama’s been, so it’ll be really interesting to see if Nick Saban decides to go in that direction and hire a guy that’s rooted in tempo and rooted in stretching the field vertically.”

Alabama has slowly but surely evolved its offense and tailored it for success throughout Saban’s tenure, and their next offensive coordinator hire will definitely test if they’re willing to take another step towards a more nuanced offense moving forward.