Like I said, we need to weather the Saban/Jacobs storms before we reach for the stars.
This can't be overstated.
As much as Malzahn pisses me off, I did live through the 70s and the Barfield era. That's as close a comparison as there can be to the current time in which we find ourselves.
To Malzahn's credit, this isn't as bad even though those cheating fucks across the state might be better than they were in the 70s.
When Bryant was at his peak we simply were not competitive. We weren't competitive in recruiting, we weren't competitive on the field, we weren't competitive in marketing, we weren't competitive in any real way. They dominated us on the field and in the living rooms.
Barfield was nice guy who was in over his head. Shug, God love him, didn't leave Doug much to work with.
We are more competitive with them now than we were then. We haven't completely folded up the recruiting tents, we haven't been shoved into a virtual corner or marginalized. I don't envy any coach having to deal with the Saban effect day after day after day. What upsets me the most is that we are just as well positioned as, say, Clemson to compete at that level and provide a perpetual challenge but we've coached and outcoached ourselves far too often.
When Bryant's power began to wane -- as Saban's inevitably will -- we were prepared to step into the void that was left. Our administration had the wisdom to hire Pat Dye.
I don't trust those currently in power to make that sort of hire. If we stick with Gus, he HAS to learn how to do this job. He can't keep bumbling around. There is going to be a power vacuum in the fairly near future. We have everything needed to fill it. Except I don't trust Gus to be that guy.