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Lance Thompson coaches in Alabama's first practice of the 2014 season in August.

(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- For the second time in 16 hours, an SEC West rival hired an Alabama assistant coach.

Tuesday evening, it was middle linebackers coach Kevin Steele to LSU. By Wednesday morning, Auburn announced it hired outside linebackers coach Lance Thompson. The latest news ends Thompson's third term as an Alabama assistant and the second time he left for a rival. In 2009, he joined Lane Kiffin's staff at Tennessee after two years under Nick Saban.

So what does it mean for Alabama? Where does Nick Saban go from here? A few thoughts moving forward for Alabama:

-- First, it wipes out both linebackers coaches at a time when the defense has struggled at times.

-- Both exits were by assistants who were on their second stint on Saban's staff at Alabama. Thompson was on his third round overall with Saban as he served as LSU's tight end coach at the same time as new Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

-- Thompson and Steele were known for their recruiting. Thompson is the No. 5 assistant coach in the 247Sports ranking of recruiters after landing four 4-star prospects for the 2015 Alabama class. He was also instrumental in bringing Auburn High School's Rashaan Evans to Tuscaloosa. Steele was No. 41 in the 247Sports rankings (currently topped by Alabama's Mario Cristobal).

-- Steele was the second highest paid Alabama assistant ($700,000) while Thompson was seventh ($430,000).

A few names to consider moving forward:

-- Current Alabama staffer Tosh Lupoi, an analyst who works with the defense, is a former defensive line coach at Cal. He was also at Washington before leaving in the midst of an NCAA investigation into improper recruiting for which he was later cleared. Lupoi spent time working with the outside linebackers in practice while assisting Thompson. He was also the 2010 national recruiter of the year, according to Rivals. (More on Lupoi)

-- Former Miami linebackers coach Michael Barrow was connected to the Auburn job before Thompson was hired. He played with Cristobal, the current Alabama offensive line coach, at Miami from 1989-92. He was also on the same Miami assistant coaching staff as Alabama's director of football operations, Joe Pannunzio. Barrow stepped down last July from the job he'd held since 2007 reportedly to tend to his sick mother.

-- Saban has rehired several former assistants in recent years, so he could look to Florida State's Sal Sunseri. He's currently making $203,000 in Tallahassee, according to USA Today's assistant coaching salary database, while Thompson made $430,000 last year. Sunseri coached Alabama's outside linebackers from 2009-2011 before leaving for Tennessee's defensive coordinator job.

-- Alabama has been known to work fast making hires. Bo Davis was announced as the defensive line coach two days after Chris Rumph departed last January. Two January days also separated Doug Nussmeier leaving for Michigan and Lane Kiffin being hired as the replacement.