Years of having his coaching staff raided finally came to a head for Nick Saban in his worst loss as Alabama’s head coach.

In the aftermath of Clemson 44, Alabama 16, there will be numerous explanations for how Dabo Swinney’s Tigers were able to blow out the previously undefeated No. 1 Crimson Tide for a national championship. Everything from Trevor Lawrence outdoing Tua Tagovailoa to Clemson’s offensive line stymying Alabama’s heralded defensive line merits consideration as the primary catalyst for the Clemson win.

But, perhaps most surprising, was just how thoroughly outclassed Alabama was in the coaching department. Alabama made the kind of misguided coaching decisions you never see under Saban. It served as a reminder of how difficult it is to replace your offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator seemingly every year. Saban has been so good at replacing departing assistants it’s easy to assume there will never been a discernible drop off in coaching but the constant turnover caught up to him in Santa Clara.

Saban opted to promote from within last offseason when defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt became Tennessee’s head coach and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll returned to the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. Mike Locksley already had play-calling experience from his time at Illinois and Maryland when Saban tabbed him as Daboll’s replacement. Handing Tosh Lupoi the defensive coordinator title was the bigger risk given Lupoi had never called plays and had no experience with the defensive secondary the way Pruitt and Kirby Smart had. The solution was to swipe Pete Golding from UT-San Antonio as co-defensive coordinator to help Lupoi with some of his blind spots.

Those personnel decisions looked good for the most part this year -- Locksley even won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant -- but it was obvious Monday night Dabo Swinney had the better coaching lieutenants. Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables called a masterful game for the Tigers, forcing Tagovailoa into two bad interceptions, stopping the Tide on fourth down three times and blowing up what might have been the worst fake field goal attempt in Alabama history. Venables called the perfect defensive alignment on the game’s third play that sucked Tagovailoa into throwing a pick-six that immediately gave Clemson control of the game.

“We thought they’d throw the ball to us based on what we were doing with our SAM (linebacker),” Venables said. “We were in a cloud coverage, something we hadn’t really done going into the game. It worked out to perfection.”

At times it felt like Locksley, who split time between Alabama and Maryland after becoming the Terrapins’ head coach on Dec. 4, was on tilt. There were curious play calls -- moving away from the run on Alabama’s first drive of the second quarter when Josh Jacobs was dominating was a head scratcher -- and an inability to keep the Tide’s offense in rhythm. Alabama’s disastrous fake field goal attempt that featured kicker Joseph Bulovas as the lead blocker won’t soon be forgotten but throwing the ball three consecutive times on Clemson’s 26-yard line -- after the Tide already had three runs of nine-yards or more on that drive -- wasn’t much better. Alabama racked up plenty of offensive yards against Clemson but it felt like Locksley, Tagovailoa and the rest of the offense forgot what worked all season once they entered the red zone. After falling behind Clemson, Alabama became desperately aggressive on offense which didn’t work.

“I think they exposed themselves,” Venables said, “but they are really good.”

It didn’t go much better for the Lupoi and Golding duo as Lawrence, Alabama native Justyn Ross and Travis Etienne roasted the Tide’s defense. The expectation headed into the title game was Alabama’s defensive line would be able to overpower Clemson’s offensive line and get pressure on Lawrence but outside of a few strong plays from Anfernee Jennings and Quinnen Williams, Alabama had virtually zero pass rush. In fact, it was the first time in 131 games against a Power 5 opponent in the Saban era that the Tide didn’t record a sack or force a turnover, according to ESPN. Lawrence had plenty of time to find Ross who made great play after great play to finish with six catches for 153 yards and a touchdown.

Saban admitted after the game he was worried Clemson could capitalize on a depleted and overmatched Alabama secondary.

“(I) never really ever got comfortable with what we needed to do to win this game, especially on defense, especially the match-ups we had in our secondary versus their receivers,” Saban said. “That was something that was kind of bothering me going into the game, and as the game unfolded, it worked out that those match-ups were a big difference in the game.”

Lupoi and Golding were never able to make the necessary adjustments or cook up the right looks to stop Clemson’s star freshman quarterback. It’s hard to remember a time Alabama’s defense looked sloppier or more undisciplined in its play under Saban. Clemson’s offensive coordinator duo of Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott kept pressing the right buttons, knowing exactly where to attack Alabama’s defense. The Tide’s defensive performance Monday night reinforced the serious concerns those around the program had before the season that Lupoi wasn’t up for the job of being Alabama’s defensive coordinator even with Saban, a defensive guru, providing a helping hand. Alabama’s defense gave up 482 offensive yards, allowed Clemson to convert 10 of 15 third-down attempts and easily could have given up 50 points if Swinney didn’t call off the dogs at the end.

The coaching performances on display Monday should prompt Saban to do some serious evaluation of his coaching staff and diagnose what needs to change going forward. With Locksley off to Maryland, Saban yet again needs to hire a new offensive coordinator though he is expected to promote quarterbacks coach Dan Enos to the position. He will be able to add at least one on-field assistant, though, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more personnel changes.

After last season, Saban wanted his staff to get younger and more aggressive on the recruiting trail, bringing in relatively inexperienced assistants like Golding and defensive backs coach Karl Scott and sending his most veteran assistant, Burton Burns, to an off-field role. The emphasis on recruiting paid off in that department with Alabama on pace to sign the nation’s top recruiting class but it is clear it created deficiencies in other areas. Against a Clemson staff that by and large has stayed together for the bulk of Swinney’s tenure, Saban’s coaching staff was completely outmatched.

Saban is largely viewed as infallible and has a sterling reputation for finding and grooming quality assistants. There’s a reason so many of his assistants have gone on to get head coaching jobs. But Monday showed even he can make mistakes when his junior coaching staff couldn’t get it done amidst the most lopsided Alabama loss in two decades.

John Talty is the sports editor for Alabama Media Group. You can follow him on Twitter @JTalty.