Alabama Crimson Tide Have a Spy to Use Against Virginia Tech Hokies

How much importance does Nick Saban place on the upcoming opening game against Virginia Tech, and when did he start placing that importance?

The answers are, in order, a whole lot and when he hired Mike Groh to come down and help out the Tide this year.

But wait—why would a Virginia boy help a team from Alabama do in one of their own? Why would Groh be a spy and teach Alabama all he knows about Tech?

For the same reason Saban would help his buddy Bob Stoops if they played Auburn. State lines aren't important when it comes to coaching and winning against rivals.

Having Mike Groh is, by most ways of thinking, a one-year deal. He was already being paid for this year by his former team, the University of Virginia, and he's only drawing graduate assistant coach pay from Alabama for his work.

But why would Groh work for peanuts in a little-titled role after being an offensive coordinator for a major college school? Are you aware what a graduate assistant coach makes?

That answer is Nick Saban. Having Saban on your résumé is an assistant's ace in the hole. When you have learned from one of the best, it only enhances future hiring.

So what's in it for Nick and company?

First of all, they get a very talented coach who was a successful college QB himself. Alabama has a stable full of very young, very green quarterbacks. Perhaps Saban saw this as a spot where Groh could help.

Perhaps he saw the opportunity to pick up a former coordinator for peanuts during his transition year. That would have been a good reason, too.

Or maybe it was the fact Mike Groh knows the tendencies and personnel of the Virginia Tech Hokies as well as any coach available to him.

Whatever the reason, you can bet when the game plan is finally polished up and finished, Groh's fingerprints will be all over it.

"It seems I've spent my adult life trying to beat Tech," Groh said earlier this year. "But I've never been part of a team with these kinds of weapons to do it," he said smiling.

So for Alabama's "Spy," it seems to certainly be a win-win scenario.