Woah.
That's not true at all.
Saban invented multiple defensive concepts that are still being used today 30 years later.
Kirby has taken some of those concepts (he learned under Saban) and improved on them.
Saying that his players have underperformed in the NFL just makes me think that they actually WEREN'T the best athletes in college, and that they were coached up. NFL is athlete-based (particularly on defense). The schemes aren't innovative or creative at all. It's a Jimmies and Joes league and there's very little developing going on. College level actually runs far more fronts and coverages.
Their job as college coaches is to win COLLEGE games...and develop COLLEGE defenses...and they've done that better than practicallyanybody.
As a longtime defensive coordinator myself, the statement that Saban/Smart don't do anything innovative is even crazier to hear...because both of those guys fall into the top-5 defensive minds that most of us study...including coaches who are on the college level. Coaches from all over, from FIU to Auburn to Uconn to Miami are using Saban vernacular, concepts and techniques.