Alabama
Revisiting Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban’s 2015 Alabama coaching staff
College Football Playoff remains unclear and chaotic midseason
With a very unclear CFP field midway through the 2025 season, Before The Snap argues why this might be the best playoff race yet.
Despite entering his second year of retirement as a head coach, Nick Saban continues to have a major influence on college football today.
Look no further than the Saturday, Oct. 18 matchup between No. 5 Ole Miss and No. 7 Georgia for proof. The matchup pits two former Saban assistant coaches against each other in a game with a lot of SEC and College Football Playoff implications.
Lane Kiffin and Kirby Smart served as the Alabama offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively, in 2015, for a Crimson Tide team that finished the season 14-1 and defeated No. 1 Clemson 45-40 in the CFP national championship game. In fact, looking back, that coaching staff was full of head coaching talent across college football today.
Here’s what you need to know about the 2015 Alabama coaching staff and where they are now:
2015 Alabama coaching staff, revisited
Head coach: Nick Saban
Now: Retired
The 2015 college football season was Year 8 for Saban as the Alabama head coach, and he put together the best coaching staff in the country. Alabama won its fourth national championship under his leadership that season, and first since 2012.
The Crimson Tide’s lone loss came to No. 15 Ole Miss on Sept. 19, dropping their record to 2-1 at the time. However, Alabama would win 12 in a row, including the SEC championship vs. Florida, a CFP semifinal against No. 3 Michigan State and the national championship against top-ranked Clemson.
Offensive Coordinator: Lane Kiffin
- Now: Ole Miss football head coach
- Career record: 112-52
Kiffin, in his second year as the Alabama offensive coordinator, had one of the easiest go-to plays in the history of college football in 2015: Hand it off to Heisman Trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry. In his first year as a starter, Henry rushed for an SEC-record 2,219 yards.
The former Tennessee and USC head coach used his Alabama tenure to rebuild his status as a coach, taking a head coach role with FAU after his Alabama gig ended unceremoniously ahead of the 2017 CFP championship game vs. Clemson.
He led the Owls to a 26-13 record to get the Ole Miss head coach offer. Kiffin has led the Rebels to a 50-18 record in his five-plus seasons leading Ole Miss. The 2025 season is Kiffin’s best shot of reaching the CFP.
Defensive Coordinator: Kirby Smart
- Now: Georgia football head coach
- Career record: 110-20
Smart has had the privilege of not only working under Saban, but also coaching under former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. The 2015 season was Smart’s final year in Tuscaloosa, as he accepted the Georgia head coaching position on Dec. 6, 2015 — over a month before Alabama won the national title.
In his 10 years leading the Bulldogs, Smart has posted a 110-20 record and won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. He has only a 1-7 record vs. Alabama, including a 1-5 record vs. Nick Saban.
Assistant head coach/offensive line: Mario Cristobal
- Now: Miami football head coach
- Career record: 89-76
Just as Kiffin did, Cristobal used the Alabama assistant position to help rebuild his status as a coach. After logging a 27-47 career record with FIU, he joined Saban’s staff in 2013. Cristobal was an elite recruiter for the Crimson Tide, finishing as the National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports in 2015.
The 2015 Alabama offensive line led by Cristobal won the inaugural Joe Moore Award. Cristobal actually spurned the Miami assistant position to take a role on Saban’s staff. Now as a coach at his alma mater of Miami, Cristobal has led to a 15-3 record over the last two seasons. Miami is a legitimate national title contender in Year 4 under Cristobal.
Assistant head coach/defensive backs: Mel Tucker
- Now: Unemployed
- Career record: 25-21
After being replaced as the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator, Tucker took a position on Saban’s staff as an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach in 2015. He followed Smart to Georgia in 2016 and eventually landed head coaching roles with Colorado (2019) and Michigan State (2020).
Michigan State fired Tucker in September 2023 following allegations of sexual harassment.
Wide receivers: Billy Napier
- Now: Florida football coach
- Career record: 61-35
Just as Cristobal had done, Napier stepped down at a different role to be on Saban’s staff. Napier accepted a position with Jimbo Fisher at FSU to be the tight ends coach but, less than a month later, he joined Saban’s staff as the wide receivers coach.
Napier was responsible for getting five-star offensive tackle Cam Robinson and five-star wide receiver Calvin Ridley to Tuscaloosa. The now-Florida football coach finds himself on the hot seat with a 21-23 record at Florida, after he went 40-12 as the Louisiana coach.
Graduate assistant: Dan Lanning
- Now: Oregon football coach
- Career record: 40-7
Lanning spent one year on the Alabama coaching staff under Saban in 2015 as a graduate assistant, working with outside linebackers. Following his year with Alabama, Lanning took an inside linebackers coaching position with Memphis under Mike Norvell.
He was hired as an outside linebackers coach by Smart in 2018 and bumped up to defensive coordinator after Tucker took the Colorado job. He was named the Oregon head coach on Dec. 11, 2021, and then helped Georgia beat Alabama in the 2022 CFP national championship game.
Alabama
How to watch Tennessee Volunteers: Live stream info, TV channel, game time | Feb. 28
Labaron Philon’s No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide (21-7, 11-4 SEC) hit the road to match up with Ja’Kobi Gillespie and the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers (20-8, 10-5 SEC) at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28. The game starts at 6 p.m. ET.
We have more details below, including how to watch this matchup on ESPN.
Prepare for this matchup with everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s college hoops action.
Tennessee vs. Alabama: How to watch on TV or live stream
- Game day: Saturday, February 28, 2026
- Game time: 6 p.m. ET
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
- Arena: Thompson-Boling Arena
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live stream: Fubo – Watch NOW (Regional restrictions may apply)
Check out: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Tennessee vs. Alabama stats and trends
- Tennessee ranks 78th in the nation with 80.5 points per game so far this year. At the other end, it ranks 62nd with 69.1 points allowed per contest.
- The Volunteers are thriving when it comes to rebounding, as they rank third-best in college basketball in boards (39.9 per game) and second-best in rebounds allowed (25.9 per contest).
- So far this season, Tennessee ranks 30th in college basketball in assists, averaging 17.1 per game.
- With 11.8 turnovers per game, the Volunteers are 257th in the country. They force 10.7 turnovers per contest, which ranks 224th in college basketball.
- This season, Tennessee is making 6.9 threes per game (271st-ranked in college basketball) and is shooting 34.7% (139th-ranked) from three-point land.
- With a 30.2% three-point percentage allowed this season, the Volunteers are 22nd-best in the country. They rank 182nd in college basketball by giving up 7.8 three-pointers per contest.
- Tennessee has taken 67.3% two-pointers and 32.7% three-pointers this year. Of the team’s buckets, 75.8% are two-pointers and 24.2% are three-pointers.
Tennessee vs. Alabama Odds and Spread
- Spread Favorite: Volunteers (-4.5)
- Moneyline: Tennessee (-222), Alabama (+179)
- Total: 164.5 points
NCAA Basketball odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Saturday at 4:11 a.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Follow the latest college sports coverage at College Sports Wire.
Alabama
Alabama ‘Fully Aware’ of Losing Streak to Tennessee Ahead of Road Rematch
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Losing to a rival almost always hurts more than falling to another opponent during the regular season. Years of hatred, unforgettable moments and tradition boiled up into one game, and the delivery is nowhere to be found for one team.
No. 17 Alabama has won seven straight games and is eyeing an eighth on Saturday on the road against No. 22 Tennessee. This is the second time that Crimson Tide will face the Volunteers, as Alabama lost in Tuscaloosa in January.
The loss a month ago to head coach Rick Barnes and company brought UA’s losing streak against Tennessee to five games. It’s the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the Vols since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Alabama head coach Nate Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974). It’s why Oats is not treating Tennessee as a faceless opponent or like any other team the Tide has faced.
“Every year we’ve been here they’ve caused us issues,” Oats said during Friday’s press conference. “Our players, are fully aware that we’ve lost five in a row. They’re fully aware of what happened out there last year. I’ve taken ownership for my share of what happened up there last year.
“We’re fully aware that they beat us at home. We haven’t lost very many home games in conference, period, really since we’ve been here, and they handed us one this year.”
After falling to Florida on Feb. 1, Alabama moved down to the ninth spot in the conference standings, and the college basketball world started to question whether or not the Crimson Tide would be a threat in the postseason.
But a switch flipped after that loss, and the current winning streak has Alabama tied for the No. 2 spot in the SEC standings. Everything seems to be trending in the Tide’s direction, as there are only three games remaining on the schedule.
Oats is in his sixth year as Alabama’s head coach. Following the retirement of former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl during the offseason, Oats became the second-longest tenured coach for one team in the conference. The coach in front of him: Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, who has held his position since the 2015-16 season.
Both Alabama and Tennessee have finished conference play in the top-4 of the standings since the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide was the regular-season and SEC Tournament champions in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, while the Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament and were the conference’s regular-season champions in 2023-24.
“So our guys know, but at the same time, we’ve got a lot of respect for how they play and what they do. We’ve got to come in with a healthy amount of respect for them, but we got to try to win this game.
“There’s a lot riding on this game. What happens in Arkansas-Florida, you’re either going to be all alone in second place if we could get a win, or you’re going to be one game out first. If you take a loss, now you’re in danger of losing a top-4 seed. They’ll be tied with us if we take a loss.”
“So there’s a lot riding on the SEC standings in this game here. They know that. They know what our struggles against Tennessee have Been as well.”
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Alabama
Selmont seeks incorporation to become independent Alabama city
SELMONT, Ala. (WSFA) – An unincorporated community in Dallas County is seeking to establish itself as an independent city, hoping to gain control over local government services and community priorities that have long been managed at the county level.
Selmont, located across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, is home to approximately 2,700 registered voters and carries a significant place in civil rights history.
The community was the site of a pivotal moment during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965, when roughly 600 civil rights marchers were tear-gassed by Alabama state troopers, including 13-year-old Mae Richmond.
“People ask us ‘Were we afraid?’ No. We were not afraid. We were not afraid, first of all, even as a 13-year-old child, we knew that we were doing what God was permitting us to do,” Richmond, a 60-plus year resident of Selmont, said of the historic event.
As an unincorporated community, Selmont lacks its own municipal government. Residents must contact the Dallas County Commissioner for public works services. It’s a situation that community leaders say limits responsiveness to local needs.
Erice Williams, a community activist leading the incorporation effort, said the change would fundamentally alter how the community operates.
“It would give us decision power and allow us to get funding that we can allocate to our own community that we can make our own priorities be clear and resolved at the same time,” Williams said.
Williams also highlighted the strain on current county services. “Connel Towns (county commissioner) is the only person we have to call, and the resources and time that he would have to serve our community is very limited,” he said.
Operation Selmont, the group spearheading the incorporation effort, is currently gathering signatures on a petition to present to the local probate judge. The organization needs approximately 500 signatures to move forward with the incorporation process and has already collected 40 percent of its goal.
The next meeting for Operation Selmont is scheduled for March 6 at 6 p.m.
For longtime residents like Richmond, incorporation represents an opportunity to ensure Selmont’s future and maintain its identity for generations to come.
“That we will be able to teach and train our children to give them the strength that our foreparents had that they will be able to stand up for justice and for equality,” Richmond said of her hopes for the community’s future.
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