As time has gone by, the chasm separating how Steve Sarkisian is perceived by fans and the most important people in his industry has widened. To the armchair quarterbacks, Sarkisian is a convenient scapegoat for Alabama’s first national championship game loss under Nick Saban and one of the primary culprits for the downfall of the Atlanta Falcons as they transformed from a Super Bowl contender into a team saddled with a losing record.

To the esteemed coaches he’s worked for — most notably Saban and Pete Carroll — Alabama’s newest offensive coordinator is an innovative mind whose work at the highest levels is valued.

“Well, my experience is the guy did a really good job when he was here,” Saban said last week. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him for what he did before he came here as an offensive coach.”

But it’s what Sarkisian did during his first stint with the Crimson Tide that helped shape how he’s currently viewed outside the walls of the Mal Moore Athletic Facility. After Lane Kiffin was fired from a job he was already leaving the week before the 2017 national championship game against Clemson, Sarkisian was tasked with calling plays. Put in a difficult situation, Sarkisian presided over an offense that converted two of its 15 third-down attempts and helped create a nine-minute time-of-possession deficit that bankrupted the defense before the Tigers prevailed in the final second.

“I don't think it's fair to criticize when a guy takes over a job one week before a game and has to go try to implement something because the circumstance we were in,” Saban said. “He's, I think, a tremendous asset on our staff and we're very pleased and happy to have him. We had a whole list of people we went through to hire and I feel like we were really, really fortunate to get a guy that was offered the Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator job to come to Alabama, and had a successful stint in the NFL.”

Some may argue with that last clause. Although the Falcons finished sixth in yards per game in 2018, they produced uneven results in the red zone and suffered from a lack of balance. The passing offense, for instance, was ranked fourth; the rushing attack 27th.

Atlanta was disappointed enough in the production that it fired Sarkisian. And when word trickled through the grapevine that Sarkisian had been appointed as Mike Locksley’s replacement at Alabama, it was met with noticeable consternation. Even former Alabama linebacker Ryan Anderson weighed in by giving a thumbs down in emoji form.

But Carroll, Sarkisian’s old boss at USC, sees better days ahead for his former assistant.

“I think he’ll feel like the college game has slowed down to some extent and will look a little bit different to him than it did before,” Carroll said. “He’ll only benefit from it. The details we’re able to go through in the NFL relative to the details you can reach in the college game are different just because of the timeframes you have to work with the guys. So it’s somewhat frustrating when you back to college ball that you just get to all the stuff you know they need to hear. But it’s only a positive though; it really helps. He’ll do great.”

Saban is of the same opinion.

Not only did he hand over control of the offense to Sarkisian but he also made him directly responsible for the further development of Heisman Trophy runner-up Tua Tagovailoa.

“He's got great knowledge and experience and the biggest thing is he's well organized and he's got good relationships with the players and he's a good teacher,” Saban said.

It was an emphatic endorsement, as Saban did his best to defend the hire. Now, the question is whether the fans will get behind it and ensure the perception of Sarkisian is the same beyond the Capstone as it is within its confines.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin