JessN: Assistant coach hiring tracker...
- Thread starter JessN
- Start date
He probably had his heart set on Georgia. But it has been confirmed that he met with Deboer to discuss staying yesterday morning.
Okay. I missed the confirmation of a meeting somewhere. I just thought it was rumor.
With Harbaugh interviewing in the NFL, this coaching carousel is a Dirty Santa game with unlimited steals.
yeah but I think we are all hoping that the give, isn't from guys who were starters last year, or very likely to be competing to start this year.
UPDATE:
Lots of updates to the initial post and we've decided to go ahead and make several names "official." The only reason we'd held off on the names now in bold were that we were awaiting an official press conference from the university before saying anything, but it appears they're going to wait to announce the entire staff as a unit, which could take some time depending on what's going on at defensive coordinator.
As you can see from the list now, we believe the offensive staff is set. We believe Ryan Grubb is set to become the offensive coordinator/QB coach; Robert Gillespie will be retained as the RB coach (which is a more significant event than it might first look; Gillespie has a lot of deep recruiting connections to this area and is respected as a position coach); JaMarcus Shephard -- who Saban tried to hire after Holman Wiggins left after the 2023 season -- will be the new WR coach (and is regarded as one of the best in the country at that); Nick Sheridan will coach tight ends (he has prior SEC experience); and Scott Huff, who I think is a fantastic young OL coach, will do the same job here.
Defensively, things get a lot harder to call. Freddie Roach is the lone coach we feel strongly enough about to put in boldface type just yet. From the support staff ranks, Courtney Morgan will serve in the newly-created general manager role (think player personnel director taken to another level), while Jerret McElwain will serve as the de facto recruiting coordinator.
As for the rest of the defensive staff, here are a few names we're tracking:
ILB: William Inge, Robert Bala, Kane Wommack, Glenn Schumann
First, the name Kane Wommack jumps off the page because he's a current FBS head coach (South Alabama). I've heard a couple of people raise this possibility, and it's not unheard of for a sitting head coach in FBS to leave his post to go back to being an assistant -- Dan Enos did it when he left Central Michigan for Arkansas after the 2014 season. But Wommack would have to either believe being a head coach wasn't for him, or he would have had to have soured on the USA opportunity. For those reasons, we're going to chalk this one up to the internet rumor mill until we can get more info. Robert Bala was Alabama's ILB coach in 2023, and from what we can tell, did a good job of it. William Inge was the co-DC and ILB coach for Washington in 2022 and 2023. He has an extensive coaching resume including stints in the NFL. Of these three names, we consider Inge to be the most likely, but he'd have to have no worse than a co-DC tag to follow DeBoer to Tuscaloosa. Glenn Schumann is a long shot, as he is currently Georgia's defensive coordinator, but if the Bulldogs decide to bring Travaris Robinson in to fill that role, Schumann might be coaxed to leave.
OLB: D.J. Durkin
D.J. Durkin has been hovering around Tuscaloosa for a couple of months now. Nick Saban was said to have been considering hiring Durkin to replace Coleman Hutzler as OLB coach. Durkin was replaced as head coach at Maryland by Mike Locksley and has been a defensive coordinator several times, including in the SEC at Florida, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. There's little question Durkin could do the job, but the issue here is that Durkin's Maryland tenure ended following the death of a player due to heat stroke in practice, and when the university declined to terminate Durkin immediately, several members of the Maryland team walked out in protest. Durkin has interviewed with DeBoer already for a job and appears to want to come to Alabama, so the question is whether Alabama can manage the negative press that, fairly or unfairly, is going to follow Durkin around for probably the rest of his career.
S: Chuck Morrell, Jesse Minter
Chuck Morrell was one of the first names to pop up after Kalen DeBoer was hired. He was the co-DC at Washington last year, along with William Inge, and coaches safeties. His resume is short, but includes a 9-year stint as a head coach at Montana Tech. Morrell is considered a rising talent as a defensive coordinator, but is light on experience calling defenses. He is also a candidate to remain at Washington (perhaps with Inge, perhaps without) to be Jedd Fisch's new defensive coordinator there. With the way Morrell's name has stopped being mentioned with the top candidates the last couple of days, it would suggest that he prefers to remain out west. Jesse Minter is currently the defensive coordinator at Michigan. If Jim Harbaugh were to leave for the NFL, Minter is not expected to get the head coaching job there despite serving as an interim head coach during one of the games Harbaugh was suspended from earlier in the year.
CB: Travaris Robinson, Phil Parker
Phil Parker is the current DC/CB coach at Iowa, and would step onto the Alabama campus as the most veteran coach by miles, including DeBoer. He's been defensive coordinator at Iowa for 12 seasons and is a devotee of the 4-2-5 base defense that DeBoer seems to favor. If he were hired here to coach DBs, he would be the sole defensive coordinator, most likely, which would likely end the William Inge candidacy at ILB as well. Travaris Robinson needs no introduction. At this hour (noon, Monday Jan. 15) he is still mulling offers from Alabama and Georgia, but appears to favor Georgia. As such, with each passing hour it would appear both these names are longshots, but we're not going to call it over yet.
ST: Joe Cox
We're told that initially, DeBoer was trying to find a place on the staff for current Alabama TE coach Joe Cox, who did a solid job over the past couple of seasons and a coach that has emerged as a promising recruiter. But when Nick Sheridan appeared to become a lock to join the staff, the offensive staff filled up. Unless Cox can coach defense, the only spot left open would be a special teams coordinator spot, assuming DeBoer hires a dedicated ST coach.
Lots of updates to the initial post and we've decided to go ahead and make several names "official." The only reason we'd held off on the names now in bold were that we were awaiting an official press conference from the university before saying anything, but it appears they're going to wait to announce the entire staff as a unit, which could take some time depending on what's going on at defensive coordinator.
As you can see from the list now, we believe the offensive staff is set. We believe Ryan Grubb is set to become the offensive coordinator/QB coach; Robert Gillespie will be retained as the RB coach (which is a more significant event than it might first look; Gillespie has a lot of deep recruiting connections to this area and is respected as a position coach); JaMarcus Shephard -- who Saban tried to hire after Holman Wiggins left after the 2023 season -- will be the new WR coach (and is regarded as one of the best in the country at that); Nick Sheridan will coach tight ends (he has prior SEC experience); and Scott Huff, who I think is a fantastic young OL coach, will do the same job here.
Defensively, things get a lot harder to call. Freddie Roach is the lone coach we feel strongly enough about to put in boldface type just yet. From the support staff ranks, Courtney Morgan will serve in the newly-created general manager role (think player personnel director taken to another level), while Jerret McElwain will serve as the de facto recruiting coordinator.
As for the rest of the defensive staff, here are a few names we're tracking:
ILB: William Inge, Robert Bala, Kane Wommack, Glenn Schumann
First, the name Kane Wommack jumps off the page because he's a current FBS head coach (South Alabama). I've heard a couple of people raise this possibility, and it's not unheard of for a sitting head coach in FBS to leave his post to go back to being an assistant -- Dan Enos did it when he left Central Michigan for Arkansas after the 2014 season. But Wommack would have to either believe being a head coach wasn't for him, or he would have had to have soured on the USA opportunity. For those reasons, we're going to chalk this one up to the internet rumor mill until we can get more info. Robert Bala was Alabama's ILB coach in 2023, and from what we can tell, did a good job of it. William Inge was the co-DC and ILB coach for Washington in 2022 and 2023. He has an extensive coaching resume including stints in the NFL. Of these three names, we consider Inge to be the most likely, but he'd have to have no worse than a co-DC tag to follow DeBoer to Tuscaloosa. Glenn Schumann is a long shot, as he is currently Georgia's defensive coordinator, but if the Bulldogs decide to bring Travaris Robinson in to fill that role, Schumann might be coaxed to leave.
OLB: D.J. Durkin
D.J. Durkin has been hovering around Tuscaloosa for a couple of months now. Nick Saban was said to have been considering hiring Durkin to replace Coleman Hutzler as OLB coach. Durkin was replaced as head coach at Maryland by Mike Locksley and has been a defensive coordinator several times, including in the SEC at Florida, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. There's little question Durkin could do the job, but the issue here is that Durkin's Maryland tenure ended following the death of a player due to heat stroke in practice, and when the university declined to terminate Durkin immediately, several members of the Maryland team walked out in protest. Durkin has interviewed with DeBoer already for a job and appears to want to come to Alabama, so the question is whether Alabama can manage the negative press that, fairly or unfairly, is going to follow Durkin around for probably the rest of his career.
S: Chuck Morrell, Jesse Minter
Chuck Morrell was one of the first names to pop up after Kalen DeBoer was hired. He was the co-DC at Washington last year, along with William Inge, and coaches safeties. His resume is short, but includes a 9-year stint as a head coach at Montana Tech. Morrell is considered a rising talent as a defensive coordinator, but is light on experience calling defenses. He is also a candidate to remain at Washington (perhaps with Inge, perhaps without) to be Jedd Fisch's new defensive coordinator there. With the way Morrell's name has stopped being mentioned with the top candidates the last couple of days, it would suggest that he prefers to remain out west. Jesse Minter is currently the defensive coordinator at Michigan. If Jim Harbaugh were to leave for the NFL, Minter is not expected to get the head coaching job there despite serving as an interim head coach during one of the games Harbaugh was suspended from earlier in the year.
CB: Travaris Robinson, Phil Parker
Phil Parker is the current DC/CB coach at Iowa, and would step onto the Alabama campus as the most veteran coach by miles, including DeBoer. He's been defensive coordinator at Iowa for 12 seasons and is a devotee of the 4-2-5 base defense that DeBoer seems to favor. If he were hired here to coach DBs, he would be the sole defensive coordinator, most likely, which would likely end the William Inge candidacy at ILB as well. Travaris Robinson needs no introduction. At this hour (noon, Monday Jan. 15) he is still mulling offers from Alabama and Georgia, but appears to favor Georgia. As such, with each passing hour it would appear both these names are longshots, but we're not going to call it over yet.
ST: Joe Cox
We're told that initially, DeBoer was trying to find a place on the staff for current Alabama TE coach Joe Cox, who did a solid job over the past couple of seasons and a coach that has emerged as a promising recruiter. But when Nick Sheridan appeared to become a lock to join the staff, the offensive staff filled up. Unless Cox can coach defense, the only spot left open would be a special teams coordinator spot, assuming DeBoer hires a dedicated ST coach.
Last edited:
He was a TAMU. I've been critical of him. After his stint with the Terps, I think he shouldn't be allowed to coach CFB. I said that after both his last stops as DC. I wouldn’t be happy with him as DC @ UA. But I’m just one fan.
Just added another name on the Safety line, Michigan's Jesse Minter.
The best place to go for updated info. Thanks Jess for your tireless work.
Minter would be an awesome hire.
Would be a great DC option if we miss on trob and Parker. A flashy hire non the less and good recruiter.
The DC pool is great, I still prefer TRob for continuity and roster comfort but we will have to see how that plays out.
Im comfortable with Durkin. Saban has wanted to add him to the staff a few times now and he would be a good asset for recruiting and coaching. The downside is there but that can be managed.
This would be HUGE. Very impressed with him.
I’ve been over the TRob thing since sometime yesterday.
It’s a grown man acting like one of these 18-20 yr old portal transfers.
Bye
Schumann, Minter, Parker, and Leonhard should be our short list of DC candidates and any of them would be better.
Anybody else wants to leave then leave.
We’ll win without you.
It’s a grown man acting like one of these 18-20 yr old portal transfers.
Bye
Schumann, Minter, Parker, and Leonhard should be our short list of DC candidates and any of them would be better.
Anybody else wants to leave then leave.
We’ll win without you.
I could not disagree with you more. I live 15 minutes from the U of md and thus have no choice but to frequently hear about Terp football from the media and the neighbors! Durkun had nothing to do with the players death during summer practices. The strength and conditioning guy was the one who pushed things too far. However as the head of the program , Durkin was ultimately responsible.. (not to mention the family attorney , who is well known in this area , made a media circus resulting in a massive payout for both he and his clients family)
Tragic death… but Durkin was several layers away from the summer workout that led to it.
He lost his job, and will prob never be a HC again . But to say he’s disqualified from being an assistant because of this is ridiculous, IMHO. But Feel free to do the research and reach your own conclusion.
that said , I’m not stating he’s the best candidate for DC, ( I don’t know enough honestly ). He is definitely a good recruiter , according to most.
I’ve done the research. We will have to agree to disagree.
How do you feel about Brian Kelly?
I respect your opinion honestly, its fair. Though I think sabans vouching for him is enough for me.
Take it or leave it just passing this along.
Trending content
Latest threads
-
-
ESPN: Sources: Sorsby hires attorney amid NCAA probe- Started by TideFans Reporter
- Replies: 0
-
No. 24 Alabama Cruises to 5-0 Win Over Vanderbilt on Friday
- Started by Diamond Tide
- Replies: 7
-
ESPN: Big Ten distributes record $1.37 billion in revenu...
- Started by TideFans Reporter
- Replies: 0
-
ESPN: No. 4 ranked RB Roberts commits to Longhorns
- Started by TideFans Reporter
- Replies: 0
-
ESPN: Gophers QB Lindsey arrested for fake ID, alcohol
- Started by TideFans Reporter
- Replies: 0