Saban replaced seven assistants off last season's staff, a headache that's been almost non-existent at Clemson, by comparison. Last month, CBS Sports and 247Sports college football expert
Barton Simmons said it would be "wise" for Alabama to start retaining its coaches from a recruiting and continuity standpoint.
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You know what’s funny?” Simmons asked during a podcast on the topic. “If you look across the SEC, the conference is so intensely competitive that they’re always jumping from job to job. They’re always stealing coordinators from one another. This year, Tennessee grabs Derrick Ansley, who was two years removed from being at Alabama. Tennessee steals the offensive coordinator from Georgia in Jim Chaney. Half of Georgia’s operation staff is one-time Alabama guys.
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There’s this sort of incestuous and very intensely competitive nature in the SEC. Meanwhile, Clemson is over there chilling with this staff they’ve had for a decade, and everyone’s just cool with it. It’s a really odd dichotomy there between the two, and I think it has benefited Clemson. Maybe Alabama will be wise to chill out a little bit and let some of these guys stick around.”