This is an opinion column.

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It’s tough to say which unit struggled more this season, Auburn’s offense or UAB’s defense.

Both were awful more games than not, and both raised some questions about the executive abilities of the first-year head coaches at each school.

It’s unfair to overly criticize a coach in his first season, but fans of the Tigers and Blazers went into the offseason uneasy with their team’s deficiencies. Auburn finished up 2023 with a record of 6-7 after an embarrassing loss to Maryland in the Music City Bowl. At 4-8 on the season, UAB missed the bowl season after receiving an invite in five of the last six years.

The situations at Auburn and UAB are different, but both teams are performing well below their expectations and standards. Auburn should be in the top one-third of the Southeastern Conference every season. No excuses. UAB has the potential to be one of the best Group of 5 programs in the country.

Major gains are expected at both schools in Year Two, but the coaches are taking different roads to redemption.

On Friday, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze addressed his problems by firing offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery. In Birmingham, UAB coach Trent Dilfer is giving his rookie defensive coordinator, Sione Ta’ufo’ou, another shot. Freeze leaned on his experience to inform his decision. Dilfer, who is relatively new to coaching, chose loyalty to a friend in retaining Ta’ufo’ou.

Dilfer was a successful high school football coach in Tennessee before being hired at UAB. Ta’ufo’ou was Dilfer’s defensive coordinator at the prep level and Dilfer decided to bring Ta’ufo’ou along for the ride. Dilfer has extreme confidence in Ta’ufo’ou’s ability. On Ta’ufo’ou, Dilfer once told me that his defensive coordinator was the best football coach he had ever known.

Ta’ufo’ou’s plan for the offseason on how to fix his defense seems like Priority No.1 for UAB. The Blazers had one of the best defenses in the country under former coach Bill Clark. The thinking going into 2023 was that UAB would have a good chance to compete for a conference title based on the experience of Clark’s former players.

The situations at Auburn and UAB present an interesting case study in leadership and decision making. Hopefully it works out well for both programs, but the divergent paths couldn’t be more different. Auburn’s Freeze couldn’t afford another substandard season of offense, so he made a call. Dilfer is betting that stability will pay off.

In the high-stakes world of college football, it’s the job of head coaches to make the best decisions for the overall health of not only the football team but also the entire athletics department and the reputations of the universities they represent.

In the case of Dilfer, even more pressure arrived on the Southside last week when UAB’s coach took a chance on a transfer quarterback with some baggage. Quarterback Jalen Kitna was at Florida in 2022 when he was arrested on several counts of child pornography. Florida dismissed Kitna from its team, and Kitna served six months of probation as part of a plea deal.

The charges against Kitna were dropped as part of his bargain, but that doesn’t mean they’re exempt from scrutiny here.

Gainesville police charged Kitna with five felonies. Two were for distribution of exploitative material. Three charges were for possession of child pornography. Kitna allegedly distributed two images of minors being sexually abused. Police say they then found three unlawful images saved on Kitna’s phone.

Jalen Kitna is the son of former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna. Kitna and Dilfer played in the NFL together.

Is Dilfer giving the son of a friend a second chance at the expense of UAB’s reputation? That’s something that UAB president Ray Watts and UAB athletics director Mark Ingram certainly must have discussed together before Kitna’s admittance to UAB was approved.

Unfortunately, UAB football has dark history of alleged sexual abuse against a minor. In 2001, the parents of a 14-year-old academic prodigy sued UAB for $40 million. The suit claimed negligence against UAB’s coaches and administrators after a young girl, according to the suit, became “a play thing” for UAB athletes.

More recently, a lawsuit against UAB in 2021 alleged that a football player sexually assaulted a freshman.

Those lawsuits have nothing to do with Kitna, the new quarterback at UAB, but they have everything to do with building a fanbase who is proud to represent and support UAB football. It’s a gamble for Dilfer, who is facing some enormous challenges as a second-year college coach.

For Auburn, the risk of falling behind at the beginning of a new era in the SEC outweighed the learning curve of a coordinator. At UAB, a new college coach is hoping loyalty to old friends creates a foundation for success in the future.

There are no incorrect answers at this point, only choices that determine what’s next. With pivotal second seasons coming in 2024, it’s not about building anymore. It’s about wins.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama”. It’s a love story about wild times, togetherness and rum.