Latest / The Jake Wimberly Podcast / Drew DeArmond on Nick Saban's retirement and a new Alabama Era

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Drew DeArmond on Nick Saban's retirement and a new Alabama Era · The Jake Wimberly Podcast

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  Thank you, Drew de Armin Drew d nine seven seven ESPN in the morning's
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  host of Talking Ball Huntsville, Alabama seven to nine has got the morning drive
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  Tynerinsider dot com. He is as connected as anybody inside the Alabama program in
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  the sec also nine seven seven ESPN dot com, Drew, thank you so
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  much for taking some time. I know that you may not have even slept
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  last night. How are you well. I managed to get two and a
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  half to three hours, Jake, which I think was a big tree.
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  I know I was texting with you yesterday. I appreciate you taking the time
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  to, you know, have me on the show. You know, I'll
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  just say this, I had to plug the phone up again, so I
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  apologize for that for the delay, but needless to say, you know,
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  I haven't had to cover a coaching search at Alabama Football license. I got
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  in the business ten years ago, and now I remember when I was outside
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  of business and how much I hated a football coaching search, and I still
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  do that it is what it is. Well, let me ask you this,
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  did you were you guys tipped off before you I mean yesterday, you
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  know, we took a break and I got a text that said check Twitter
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  now, and Beaver did my producer, and then of course it just hit
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  us right on the air, and it was extremely weird and wow, you
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  know, I mean, you knew it was coming at some point, but
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  just kind of to have to talk about it in real time, it was
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  very very odd, you know, just very nostalgic. Did you guys know
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  about this or were you guys a surprise? Here's what I was told yesterday.
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  I got a text about two o'clock from one of my best sources.
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  He told me an assistant coach was leaving to go to Georgia. Had I
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  heard about it? And I said no, And I said, but I
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  can't believe that would happen. You know, I figure he was up for
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  a promotion, he'd been heavily involved in recruiting, and I just was like,
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  that wouldn't be good at all. And then, you know, I,
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  as we were talking, Bo Davis went to LSU and then I told
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  the source, I said, I'm not surprised he didn't hire Bow and he
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  said, well, he tried. But you know, they're they're using his
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  age against him. They're wondering if he's going to retire in one or two
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  years and Savin was having trouble retaining assistance, you know, hiring who he
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  wanted because of his age. Ni l the transfer portal. He had adapted
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  to that, but it's still an ongoing situation. As you know, it's
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  open ended. We've talked to you about that on our show, with what
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  Old miss and Missippi State are doing, especially the rebels. So there's just
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  no there's just absolutely no guardrails on it. And I think, as coach
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  Savin told Rhys Davis Chris Low today, if it's a lot harder to do
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  now when he's seventy two than it was when he was sixty two. And
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  I think I was told yesterday around two it's like he was growing frustrated with
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  being able to not being able to fill out his staff. He was frustrated
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  with how recruiting ended. And I know that sounds absurd because they finished number
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  two, but he wasn't happy that they only had eight scholarship offensive linemen for
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  spring, that McLaughlin transferred, and that you know, they didn't sign some
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  offensive tackles that he would have liked to have signed out of the high school
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  rank. I just think that I think overall, is just being tired,
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  and it's a lot. It's such a hard job to stay so fully involved,
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  not take a CEO role and run the organization the way he wants to.
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  And I just think he felt like, you know, it was it
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  wasn't. And I think I just say this on your show. The powers
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  that be, the board of trustees, the athletic director, they were on
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  alert. They knew this could happen. They weren't one hundred percent sure it
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  would. But I think he just grew tired. You probably read what was
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  said today that he was still working. Thirty minutes before he decided to retire,
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  he interviewed a wide receivers coach candidate and then just said I'm done.
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  I'm retiring, and I'll just tell you that I knew about the four o'clock
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  meeting, but they have it every year. The first thing we were told
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  is that it was just going to be to set the agenda the off season
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  program in spring, just what they do every year under him, and that
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  he wasn't going to retire. Then he walked into the room and told the
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  team he was retiring. The coaches and the players had no idea, so
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  to say. It was a little surprising. Yesterday, Jake, I would
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  say, yes, Drew Dearman on your radio talking Nick Saban Alabama out at
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  Alabama. And of course now a coaching search is underway. We'll get to
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  that in just a bit. So, Drew, you know, I don't
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  even know how you quantify, you know, I mean, you look at
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  the numbers for Nick Saban, you look at the national championships, the SEC
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  titles, you know, just the way that he transformed this league, the
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  way he transformed the University of Alabama. And look, that was hard to
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  do it to begin with, with all the history and everything that goes with
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  the Crimson Tide. But just in a couple of minutes before we talk coaching
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  search, just to kind of put your arms around what he has meant to
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  Tuscaloosa in the university. Well, I was quite like this when I was
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  a kid, Jake. I was a kid of the eighties and the nineties.
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  Most people thought Notre Dame was the most tradition rich program in college football
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  history. They won a national championship when I was in middle school in nineteen
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  eighty eight. They nearly won it again in ninety three when I was about
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  to graduate high school. Since that time, Notre Dame has only come close
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  twice and Alabama smashed them both times. And when you look at what Nick
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  Saban has done with four Heisman Trophy winners, six national championships, and he
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  could have won ten very easily Jay in seventeen years, what he's done is
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  he has established Alabama football as the greatest programmed historically in history. And it's
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  not close. I mean, Georgia's had a great run lately, Clemson had
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  moments in the sun, but I'm just talking about when you stack the history
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  together from the nineteen twenties Rose Bowls all the way to now, it's like
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  I told somebody yesterday, he took a sledgehammer and smashed Notre Dame. Okay,
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  Notre Dame, it's been it's a creeping up to forty years since they've
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  won a national championship. He won six at Alabama and almost won ten.
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  To me, what he did historically is he had the greatest run in history
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  for a seventeen year period. And because of what he did, when you
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  stack it with coach Bryant, when you stack it with Gene Stallings, you
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  know, coach Wade, coach Thomas Alabama football is the greatest program in history,
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  and I don't think it's close because I just think when you look at
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  the national champions if they've won and then they've almost won, nobody compares to
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  what Alabama has done historically now and a lot of that's because of Nick Saban
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  and all these coaches making you know, eleven twelve million dollars a year,
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  ten million dollars a year, you know, your lowest paid coach in the
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  SEC making three to four million. You can you can all thank Nick Saban.
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  Then you can also thank him for the SEC network because as you said,
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  he revolutionized the game. I don't think anybody's going to disagree with anything
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  that you just said. Drew de Armachalk and Nick Saban, Thursday edition of
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  the Program. All right, so Dan Lanning has taken his name out of
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  the hat. And of course you hear Mike Norveale, you hear Lane Kiffin,
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  you hear Kaylen Debure, Washington, Steve Sarkesian. Any guesses on a
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  short list is that the short list is there? Somebody when I'm thinking of
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  you know, you look at Greg Burney said seventy two hour Window, and
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  I'm paraphrasing, we're gonna button this thing up, or feel like they'll have
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  it buttoned up. I saw John Talty put that out there on X.
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  Your thoughts on who it might be, well, I'll just say this,
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  I had a list of my own. I was hearing a lot of vibes,
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  strong ones with Dan Lanning yesterday and I thought strongly it might be him.
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  It turned out it was not. And you know, you're never right
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  in this deal all the time. Of course, it's almost like chasing ghosts.
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  But I'll just give you a list of top of four guys, and
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  I don't think it'll get off of that list. I think you know Dan
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  Lanning was on that list. He's now out. You just said that,
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  Jake. But I think the other three on that list, Dimiko Ryans of
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  the Timeline doesn't really fit, Steve Sarkisian, and Caitlin de Boor. I
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  don't think it comes off of those. I don't think it's gonna be Mike
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  Norvel, no disrespect. I think he's done a great job at Florida State
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  because I think if it was Mike Norvel, it would already be done.
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  Because FSU his buyout is four million you know the turmoil they're having with the
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  ACC. I think he would jump at the chance to come to Alabama.
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  But Steve Sarkisian he's got He's in talks to get an extension with Texas that
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  could get a little sticky. His wife loves Austin, so there's no guarantees
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  there. But I really think when you look at it, Demiko is a
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  Bama guy. I know he's just in his first year as an NFL head
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  coach, and again the timelines are really iffy because of the playoffs and the
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  portal and the portal being open. But I really think, based on what
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  I've heard, that those were the four guys that I was I believe were
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  strongly under consideration planning, never got offered the job. So to me,
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  it's gonna come from one of those three with Kaylin de Bor, Steve Starkejhan
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  and Demiko Ryans. And I think Alabama will have a head coach by tomorrow.
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  And so if what you're saying is the gospel, which typically you're on
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  the money when it comes to Alabama and the sec Ole miss fans should be
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  a static, it's not likely, Lane Kiffin, I don't think so.
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  I very seriously doubt it's Lane Kiffin. I've never thought it would be.
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  I'll just say this, Lame's done a great job at Ole Miss. There's
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  no question about that. He's had two ten plus wins seasons, one of
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  a school record eleven wins this year. But I'll also say his tenure at
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  Alabama didn't end well with Nick Saban, and Nick Saban is still going to
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  be around the building. He's still gonna have his office, He's still gonna
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  be involved, definitely with keeping this roster together. I think that Nick Saban
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  has a better relationship with Sarks than he does Kiffin. I know Kiffen respects
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  him, Kiffin always pays homage to him, But I just I'll just say
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  this, during a seventeen year run, Lane Kiffin is the only assistant coach
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  that didn't finish the season. Wow. Not all of that was because he
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  just he had taken another job at FAU Okay. And then all I'll say
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  is when he removed Lane Kiffin after the Washington win in twenty sixteen, who
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  took over his OC Yeah, I was sorry, Steve Sukes. So I
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  just don't think I know Lane impressing people when he was in Tuscaloosa, but
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  I don't think he impressed enough people. And I'll just say this too,
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  Lane Kiffin would jump at the chance to go to Tuscalesa's why he didn't go
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  to Auburn last year in my opinion. But I just don't think he's going
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  to get this job. I think he wants the job. I think if
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  he wanted it, it would have already been done. But I just don't
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  think he's going to be the Alabama coach. I've never thought he was going
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  to People that I trust don't think so. And I just think overall,
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  when it comes down to it, three guys I mentioned Kalen Debor, Steve
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  Starkejan Dimiko Rance, I think it's gonna come from those three now that Dan
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  Lanning is officially out. Really really good stuff. Drew DMan on your Radio
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  Drew d nine seven seven ESPN Tighterinsider dot Com Monday through Friday seven am to
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  nine am, uh nine seven seven ESPN dot Com. Drew, always appreciate
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  your time, good stuff as always. Look, I appreciate you on a
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  tight window. We'll do it again soon. Thanks Jacob, thanks for hanging
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  with me. Man, appreciate you