Mario was a failed head coach at FIU before Saban allowed him to enter Bama's coaching rehab program and was given the AHC job at Bama because of his experience being greater than Napier's at the time.
You're making it sound like being the AHC, OL coach, and recruiting coordinator at Bama, all at once, and receiving more credit than being a single position coach was somehow surprising and a major accomplishment, rather than something that would be completely and totally expected when you hold 3 titles and have a higher status on the staff. You're also making it sound like it's somehow surprising that a program would tap someone with a higher status at a successful program to lead it than a single position coach. Both are laughable.
The SEC took the two best universities from the Big 12 because of money, so I don't really think that makes the point that you think it does. Good programs exist in crappy conferences (see: Clemson); the conferences are still crappy.