Saban never fired or even demoted Mario. There were some rumors at one point that Saban was going to demote Mario to TE coach, but they proved to be complete BS.
With that being said, it was only rumored that Saban was going to demote Mario because Alabama fans wished that would happen. They did not think Mario was a good OL coach.
this is true. He was never demoted. Saban wanted to hire Brent key but he wanted to have key as an analyst. Key had other big time offers so Saban brought him on as a position coach and made him center and guards coach. Mario was given assist HC /Tackles and TE.A lot of these titles are about money. It was basically why Thomas brown was labeled co-OC/RB coach. Thomas was not calling plays or even helping devise gameplans. It was all about money. Mario STILL coached the Oline if anybody watched the games. Why would Mario get demoted after getting a raise and after his Oline JUST won the joe Moore award given to the nations BEST Oline. it was all about getting key because Saban knew he might lose Mario soon. He was already getting calls from other schools about Mario.
Lastly Oregon has one of the best olines in college football this yr. the LT Mario Recruited he also recruited Dallas Warmack to Oregon who he recruited to Alabama. The other guys were already on the roster as red shirt sophomores. Under helfrich the line was considered soft and Oregon was considered a finesse team. They are not considered that anymore under Mario
