What do Maurice Smith, Blake Barnett and Steve Sarkisian have in common? Since last summer, each of them made a high-profile business decision to leave the Alabama football program.
The defensive back Smith went to Georgia, the quarterback Barnett to a junior college and then Arizona State, the analyst-turned-coordinator Sarkisian to the Atlanta Falcons.
What makes those men and their decisions different? Sarkisian is a coach so he was free to leave for another opportunity and start working elsewhere immediately, even though he'd been the Tide's offensive coordinator for a mere five weeks and one game.