Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy has made a big declaration about his alma mater.
McElroy discussed the subject of the Crimson Tide’s football dynasty during Wednesday’s episode of his “Always College Football” show.
McElroy was asked whether the Tide’s dynasty is over. McElroy said yes, though he gave a caveat that the definition of “dynasty” is somewhat abstract.
“It depends a little bit on how you define a dynasty. I always define a dynasty with complete dominance over the competition almost always, and I think that those days have definitely gone by the wayside,” McElroy said, as transcribed by On3. “To say that the dynasty is over, yeah, I think the run of dominance in which they destroy every opponent is done. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t think they can’t win a championship. I still think they can.”
McElroy said that the transfer portal and the program's inability to stack depth has hurt Bama’s dominance over the rest of the country.
McElroy is correct. Alabama has gone from being “the team” to being one of the teams. Around the same time that Alabama has become less dominant, the same has occurred with Clemson, too.
While the transfer portal and NIL rules looked like they would favor the strong programs, they appear to have helped even the playing field among the “haves” and the “have nots.”
This is all not to say that a dynasty can’t be built or achieved in the current college football environment. We have experienced one the last few years – it just went from Alabama or Clemson to being Georgia.
Though McElroy did not mention it, another factor that has hurt Alabama is how much tougher the SEC – and SEC West in particular – has become. LSU had a great team under Ed Orgeron and then hired Brian Kelly. Texas A&M brought in the currently-disappointing Jimbo Fisher, but they’ve still taken a lot of top recruits during his time. Arkansas has gotten its act together under Sam Pittman. Ole Miss hired Lane Kiffin. Mississippi State had the late Mike Leach running things.
Everyone knows better than to count out Nick Saban or a Saban team, but McElroy recognizes that the days of utter dominance by Bama seem to be over.
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