Perhaps the most colorful thing about Alabama’s new offensive coordinator is the fake Twitter account set up in his name.
Check it out: @runDaboll.
That rolls off the tongue much better than “Run the damn ball, Lane,” and maybe that’s the point.
Low profile is a good look for the Bama OC right about now. With the hire of the Patriots tight ends coach this week, Nick Saban diffused a lot of speculation right off the jump.
We can only assume the evaluations of Daboll stick to on the field.
The new OC is 41, bald and could pass for your neighbor. Flashy, he ain’t. The NFL quarterbacks who played for him include Matt Cassel, Matt Moore and Colt McCoy.
A former Division III safety from Canada, Daboll has been a part of five Patriots Super Bowl wins.
He is not your basic celebu-coach. Alabama doesn’t need any more of those at this point. Chip Kelly would have gotten the blood flowing quicker. Current Bama staffer Mike Locksley would have been a fine choice.
But Saban went with a guy who hasn’t been in the college game since 1999. Does it even matter with Bill Belichick vouching for him?
If this was (perhaps) any other program, we’d be wondering why Saban is going on sixth offensive coordinator in 11 seasons or why Daboll is his third OC in less than two months.
Not in T-Town. Trust “The Process” and all that.
But someone has to say it out loud: Can Daboll recruit and coach at possibly the most elite college program in existence, one that has been called the NFL’s 33rd franchise?
Obviously Saban thinks so, but the answer isn’t as simple as saying Daboll has coached with the NFL’s most elite team. We’re talking play-calling and game-planning at the college level. We’re talking stuff you can’t quantify like taking Jalen Hurts to the next level.
- The last three years, Daboll was tight ends coach for the Patriots, which is saying he was the Rob Gronkowski’s coach. Doesn’t that position kind of coach itself?
- In four seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator (Chiefs, Dolphins, Browns), Daboll’s units never finished above 22nd in total yards.
- That college experience he has previously? Daboll was a graduate assistant with Saban at Michigan State from 1998-99.
Daboll leaves a team where it’s hard to know any of the coaches in a meaningful way and joins a program where it’s equally difficult to know any of the coaches a meaningful way. Saban adopted Belichick’s “One Voice” approach to the media long ago.
Being used to it doesn’t mean sheltering coaches from the outside world is right. They have careers to enhance, future employers to impress.
I’ll stop whining now. We’ll get Daboll for an interview before the season at some point. There’s usually availability at bowl games and the College Football Playoff.
Saban, though, has successfully made us care about nothing more than football by restricting access. That’s why Kiffin’s antics had to be so maddening. Lane tended to break the seal.
We the media -- and by extension, the public -- like to know about these guys. Kiffin was/is a hell of a coach. That’s why Daboll shouldn’t assumed to be an automatic upgrade.
As much as you might want to disparage him, Kiffin successfully guided (in some fashion) a major transition to the spread offense at Alabama. He took three different quarterbacks to SEC titles. One was a freshman (Jalen Hurts). One won a national championship in his only season as a starter (Jake Coker).
Daboll inherits a lot of that legacy.
And none of its headaches.
Maybe that’s all that matters.