FACTS without spin
-This sucks
-It sucks that it happened right before signing day
-It sucks that he went to a rival right before signing day
-It sucks because it's clear our rival is building a power house right before our eyes, or at least they're willing to do whatever it takes to try.
-It sucks to lose two defensive coaches in the off season
-It sucks to lose a coach that happens to be a pretty good guy, kinda guy you want around.
-Rumors about working Christmas eve and Saban working him hard has less to do with this than Tennessee doubling his salary.
FACTS with spin
-Saban is the defense, though he says he doesn't run the defense it's possible that this lead to Steele and Thompson leaving, they want to be coaches who don't want to be micro-managed. That they can do that with a pay raise is simply a bonus.
-Saban made Thompson not the other way around. Thompson preceded Saban... why wasn't he bringing in on average 3 5-stars a year then?
-So our coaches are sought after. You'd hope that the successes of those running your program aren't going unnoticed. Kind of a dubious honor. It's like being broken up with by a girl that says you're to good for her. She's right, but you still get dumped.
-How can you look at a guy in the eyes for two years while he tells you why you belong at a particular school and then continue looking him in the eyes when he tells you that he wasn't telling the truth and that you should believe him now when he tells you that you should go with him to somewhere else? I can't imagine losing a recruit, for this very reason. It happens though.
-We'll just keep bringing in the talent. When in doubt just keep bringing in the talent. When you don't know what to do just keep bringing in the talent. Keep bringing the depth, keep bringing in Top 5 classes year after year after year and eventually it will be like LSU, it doesn't matter who the hell coaches them.
That's all the spinning I can do. I'm exhausted. Hopefully there's some truth both in the 'facts' and the 'spins'. I think there is, we'll see.
But yes, this sucks.