Alabama Fans: No Need to Worry About Pendry Being Gone, Jeff Stoutland Is Good
Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Joe Pendry's retirement came as a surprise to many, but his reasoning seemed good once he came out with it. He simply wanted to enjoy his remaining years with the family and grand kids.
He and his wife drove their car down to the Capital One Bowl game and gave him the almost-rare opportunity to spend several uninterrupted hours to just talk. Being a coach means being away from home a good deal. Being a coach under Nick Saban means working even longer.
It was this long talk and just enjoying time with the wife that helped him come this decision.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Seeing him at practice all animated, it is hard to imagine that he was 63 years old. He has so much energy and does such a wonderful job. If you polled the top 25 coaches in college football and asked who the best offensive line coach was, Pendry would easily be the top name.
Not only was he a great coach, but he was also a great recruiter. Potential linemen knew that having Pendry on your résumé as your line coach gave you a leg up come draft time. He could develop you into a lineman that could succeed in the NFL.
Almost every time I met Joe, he was in jeans and cowboy boots and had a grin on his face. There was just an easy going manner about him that drew you to like him, but when he talked, you could see the seriousness on his face and you had to feel he knew what he was talking about.
His linemen didn't just listen to him, they obeyed him. Pendry showed them ways to block with proper technique, to dominate the line of scrimmage so you wouldn't have to resort to holding.
His Alabama teams had less holding calls than any team in America and his line was always rated as one of the top lines in America. His time here saw the Tide O-line go from one of the worst to the best in the game.
And then he was gone.
When he told Saban of his intentions, Nick could tell it wasn't worth an argument. Joe always did what he said he was going to do, but he did have one favor to ask his old friend. He wanted his advice on who he'd hire to replace him.
They both agreed the timing was right to snap up Jeff Stoutland as he may become available with head coach Randy Shannon going down in flames in Miami. That staff was going to need jobs and Stoutland was the jewel of the bunch.
He was Saban's first and only choice and for Tide fans it was good that he said yes.
Pendry is a hard man to replace and he may have done his best work at the tail end of his career in his 60's.
Stoutland is close and is just in his late 40's so Alabama can reap the work of a coach who is just reaching the peak years of his career.
For a young man, he has a deep coaching career and almost all of it was coaching and developing the offensive line. The teams he coached improved greatly and were among their conference leaders as well as national title winners.
He developed many great linemen, some of whom were marginal recruits into all conference stars including some who made the Lombardi and Outland Trophy lists.
At his last job, he took over a Miami Hurricane offensive line in shambles. Through recruiting and solid coaching, the 2010 Hurricane offensive linemen earned All-ACC weekly honors five times and the 'Canes rushed for more than 200 yards in five of Miami's last seven games.
Here's the quick breakdown of his coaching career so far:
He encourages his linemen to excel at school work too and many of his players have earned Academic All-American status.
Like Pendry, he has worked in the NFL and is respected there as well and that won't hurt when Stoutland hits the recruiting trail. Already well known and respected by the high school coaches in Florida, Stoutland could mine some gold from that area for Alabama.
Recruits of the 2012 class, like offensive linemen Kyron Samuels and Caleb Peterson talked about how impressed they were after meeting Stoutland and named him as a main reason they're strongly considering the Tide.
Now that the fans know that Stoutland is the man who Pendry himself thought would be the best replacement, as well as Saban, they can all sleep soundly till kickoff this fall.
The Alabama offensive line is in good hands.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
