Alabama's Jeremy Pruitt hire is right in front of them and no, it's not Jeremy Pruitt

Alabama football fans better hope that Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer is coming to Tuscaloosa. Otherwise, the hiring process will reek of a Clay Travis-infused mess of epic Tennessee catastrophes from yesteryear. With top candidates like Dan Lanning, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Mike Norvell all turning it down, where does Alabama go if it cannot pry DeBoer out from Seattle?

With Norvell bowing out, the other top candidate for the job is promoting offensive coordinator Tommy Rees from within. Just when he started to win over the Crimson Tide fanbase, the Rose Bowl happened. The final play of Nick Saban's coaching career saw Jalen Milroe take an aborted snap up the middle on a fourth-and-3 in overtime to no avail. Rees is fine, but he will face so much pressure.

The parallels to what happened in Tennessee after the end of the Butch Jones era are starting to emerge. The Vols had something like eight candidates say no, as well as the well-documented witch hunt that prevented Greg Schiano from taking over in Knoxville. Tennessee's end result was hiring former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. Yeah, that worked out stupendously, idiots...

Pruitt may be an Alabama alum, but he was fired for cause in Knoxville after the 2020 COVID season.

Alabama replacing Nick Saban with Tommy Rees feels very Jeremy Pruitt

Look. I wish Rees nothing but the best. He is a fellow millennial trying to live his best life doing what he loves professionally. I respect the hell out of it, as I am doing the same thing. But I'm not ready to lead a sports blogging company of my own. Rees could be a future head coach in the sport, but going from a so-so offensive coordinator at Notre Dame to leading Alabama in two seasons is utter insanity.

It is why whoever decides he is the man to replace Saban is more likely not destined to fail. Replacing a legend never bodes well in any sport, or line of business for that matter. Even if you succeed, your inherent success will be marginalized based on what your predecessor accomplished previously. College football may be a young man's game, but Rees is a bit too ripe on the vine for this promotion.

If you are Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne, ask yourself this one question: Who can you hire that will have your rival teams shaking in their boots? What head-coaching candidate will keep Hugh Freeze, Josh Heupel, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin and Kirby Smart up at night in the lead-up to their team's games with Alabama? DeBoer could be that, but it does not feel like Rees is that guy at this juncture.

To go from Saban to Rees should have Alabama fans questioning the health of their beloved team.