Tide Tidbits – May 29, 2009

Alabama’s Kirby Smart talks defense at L’Arche Mobile event
Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart would like nothing better than for the Tide’s opponents to run the ball straight at them this year. But he knows that’s probably not going to happen. “We’re a great defense when we’ve got the right 11 on the field. When we got to our fifth and sixth DB, we’re not as good,” Smart told a sold-out crowd at the Wade Office Equipment LArche Football Preview on Thursday in Mobile. “We got exposed at times last year and that’s where we tried to improve in the off-season – playing multiple defenses, playing nickel and dime. “We’re best when teams try to run at us. That’s what we’re built to stop.”

New deal will have all SEC games televised
The Southeastern Conference’s move to wall-to-wall saturation of televised football moved forward this week as the league confirmed a number of previously-announced contracts with CBS, ESPN and Fox Sports Network to essentially guarantee that every SEC game would be televised. Mike Slive, the commissioner of the SEC, said Thursday that the new package would leave one pay-per-view opportunity per school, with every other game being televised “on some commercial platform. We wanted to leave one window per year, basically to allow for a Homecoming game or something like that where the school wanted to play in the afternoon.”

Capping signees at 30
The SEC presidents and athletic directors met Thursday, and there’s strong support for legislation that would cap the number of football signees a school could sign at 30. That’s an amendment from the original proposal of capping the number at 28. The SEC’s preference is for this to become national legislation.

So… when will Alabama learn its textbook-related fate from the NCAA?
Jon Solomon caught up with UA athletics director Mal Moore to see what’s up. When does Moore expect a ruling? “In the very near future,” Moore said. “That’s up to the NCAA. We have no control over that.”

Nick Saban defends his hiring of former Virginia OC Mike Groh as GA; wants more development of minority coaches
When Saban was asked if he expects to get criticism for using an on-field graduate assistant spot on Mike Groh, the former Virginia offensive coordinator he replied, “He’s going to graduate school. He didn’t have a job,” Saban continued. “He should have an opportunity to work. We’re not violating any rules. His dad is a good friend of mine. We coached together before. I’m sure he would do the same for my son. But he is going to graduate school and he’s not making any more money than a graduate assistant.”

Roll Tide!

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