"Where’s Dan?": The Story of Alabama Football’s Rampant Coaching Staff Turnover
By Bruce Feldman 6h ago
A blowout national championship loss to Clemson may not have been the biggest shock Nick Saban got last week.
Four days later in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was about to have its regular morning football staff meeting when Saban noticed someone was missing.
“Hey, where’s Dan?” Saban asked staffers, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, in reference to Dan Enos, the Tide’s quarterbacks coach who had just been promoted to become Alabama’s new offensive coordinator.
The offensive coordinator vacancy had been created by Mike Locksley leaving to become the head coach at Maryland. Much of the staff was on the road recruiting, but Saban and Enos were supposed to interview offensive line coaching candidates to replace Brent Key, who had taken a job at his alma mater Georgia Tech after three years with the Crimson Tide.
“Where’s Dan?”
Enos had done a terrific job as the Alabama quarterbacks coach in his first season in the program. A few days earlier, Locksley had raved about the work Enos had done training the Tide QBs to be more efficient in their decision-making. That work had carried over from the practice field into games, especially evidenced by Jalen Hurts’ finding the second receiver on several occasions when he came off the bench to rally Alabama past Georgia in the SEC title game.
Enos’ stock had soared in Saban’s eyes, from all accounts inside the Tide program. Saban was counting on Enos as Alabama would again have to navigate a staggering amount of staff turnover, even by Saban standards. After the 2017 season the Tide brought on six new assistant coaches. Locksley and Key were gone back to their home bases immediately after the 2018 season, as expected. Josh Gattis, the up-and-coming wideouts coach and co-offensive coordinator, had left the day before the staff meeting to take the offensive coordinator job at Michigan.
That same day, Enos’ name had surfaced as a candidate for offensive coordinator openings at Georgia and Miami. But at Alabama, Enos was getting handed the keys to the most explosive collection of skill-position talent the Tide have ever had: phenom quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Tua Tagovailoa, two five-star running backs and a quartet of blazing fast wideouts that led the country in big plays by a wide margin. However, there was no sign of Enos when the staff meeting was about to start.
“Where the F#$% is Dan?!?”
Several of the staffers knew the answer to their boss’ question. Word had already spread that 50-year-old Enos was headed to Miami to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Manny Diaz. No one in the room wanted to be the one to break that news to Saban, even though Miami was primed to announce it in a couple hours.
One staffer scrambled to check if Enos was in his office. It was empty, save for a pencil on the desk. Maybe he’d already moved into Locksley’s old office, but that one was empty, too.
“He moved out like the Colts,” said one person with knowledge of the matter, equating Enos’ departure to the middle-of-the-night exit by the old Baltimore NFL franchise to Indianapolis.
Less than a week after the Enos’ bombshell, there’s been more turnover on the Tide staff. On Wednesday, as The Athletic first reported, defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi accepted a job to become the Cleveland Browns’ defensive line coach. Lupoi was the best recruiter on the Alabama staff, with the primary responsibility for landing 2018 roster members Tagovailoa, Jonah Williams, Raekwon Davis, Najee Harris, Alex Leatherwood, Terrell Lewis, Trevon Diggs, Dylan Moses and Jaylen Waddle. That group may include a half-dozen future NFL Draft first-round picks, perhaps more.
But when Alabama lost to Clemson last week in a fashion unlike any other Saban-coached Crimson Tide team, the defense under first-year coordinator Lupoi took plenty of the blame. Alabama’s defense gave up 37 of Clemson’s 44 points, two more than Clemson scored on ’Bama in the 2017 title game and three fewer than Clemson got in the 2016 title game. No one seemed to remember that Alabama began the season with only three returning starters on defense, that it had lost its top six DBs to the NFL, its top pass rusher Lewis to injury and its top cover man Diggs at midseason. It was a group that had to face four of the top seven offenses in the FBS — two more than Alabama faced in the previous three years combined.
But Alabama lost the College Football Playoff championship game by 28 points, a result that left folks wondering if this is the start of a downturn in what has been the most impressive run in the history of the sport given all of the modern-day complexities of sustaining a dominant run.
In the wake of Enos’ departure, Saban reached out to a familiar face, recruiting Steve Sarkisian back to Alabama with the expectation that the 44-year-old Californian take over as offensive coordinator, according to people familiar with the situation. Sarkisian spent the 2016 season on the Alabama staff as an analyst and had a one-game stint as the Tide’s play caller in the national title game against Clemson after Lane Kiffin moved on to his FAU job.
After that game, Sarkisian served two seasons as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator but was fired in December even though Atlanta ranked No. 6 in the NFL in total offense. Sarkisian’s familiarity with Saban’s system seemed to make him a good fit for a team that might have a completely new offensive staff depending on whether running backs coach Joe Pannunzio returns.
Another plus for Sarkisian is his relationship with Tagovailoa. As the head coach at USC, Sarkisian was the first to offer a scholarship to the strong-armed Hawaiian. Sarkisian also has been interviewing prospective assistant coaches this week. Among the candidates considered to be in the mix for the Tide’s offensive line vacancy is former Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood, who worked as the Falcons’ offensive line coach under Sarkisian.
One of the O-line coaches on Saban’s wish list, people familiar with the matter say, was Jeff Stoutland, Alabama’s line coach in 2011 and 2012. Stoutland, now on the Philadelphia Eagles’ staff, loves Saban but not the schedule that comes with returning to Alabama and becoming a college coach again, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The reality is there is more of a grind coaching at the college level than in the NFL, which does not tie its coaches to recruiting 52 weeks of the year.
Turnover at powerhouse programs isn’t anything new. Often hot assistants get plucked off title-winning staffs to get the chance to run their own programs.
In the great run at USC under Pete Carroll, several of his protégés left for head coaching jobs — defensive coordinator Nick Holt took over the Idaho program; recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron took over at Ole Miss; offensive coordinator Kiffin got the Oakland Raiders’ head coaching job; Sarkisian got the Washington job.
After winning two national titles at Florida, Urban Meyer lost offensive coordinator Dan Mullen to Mississippi State and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong to Louisville.
What’s unique to Alabama is the significantly higher rate of staff turnover in conjunction with the significantly greater rate of championships and success. Saban has won five national titles with the Tide, and he’s had four different offensive coordinators for those titles — Jim McElwain (two), Doug Nussmeier, Kiffin and Brian Daboll. Saban also has seen 10 assistants from his Alabama staff get FBS head coaching jobs: Kiffin, Locksley, Billy Napier, Major Applewhite, Geoff Collins, Mel Tucker, Kirby Smart, Jeremy Pruitt, McElwain and Mario Cristobal.
Maintaining staff chemistry can be vexing. Florida State’s dynasty under Bobby Bowden toppled when he lost some key assistants — most notably Mark Richt and Chuck Amato — to their own head coaching jobs, and after a 14-year stretch of top-five poll finishes, the Seminoles never finished better than No. 10 in Bowden’s final nine seasons as coach.
In reality, there are three kinds of staff departures in Sabanland.
The first is getting a bigger job. Of those 10 future head coaches, Kiffin, Smart, Pruitt, McElwain and Locksley all left to run their own shop. Gattis would fit in this category as well, because he gets the chance to call plays for Michigan.
The second type seems to be unique to Alabama, where some assistants leave for seemingly lateral or lesser jobs. Several of those are coaches who get nudged out or are encouraged to find other jobs. And Saban is well-connected and respected enough to help facilitate interview opportunities. In addition, having Alabama on a résumé and being exposed to Saban’s “Process” makes assistants a lot more marketable. A few of those 10 former assistants who later landed head coaches jobs fit in this spot. Some Tide fans are convinced Lupoi is among those in this category, too.
“I think he likes the change because I think he thinks it keeps people from getting complacent,” one former Alabama assistant coach said of Saban.
The third type seems to be a much less common situation: An assistant decides life — and his career — is better served elsewhere, which apparently was the case for Enos.
One ex-Saban staffer says that before he moved to Tuscaloosa to take a job with the Tide, he knew it would be a short-term stay. “You know your shelf life there is probably not gonna be long,” he said, adding that Saban probably knows it, too. “Nick’s a phenomenal recruiter, and he’s a phenomenal recruiter of coaches.”
It’s no secret that Saban can be a challenging boss. The term “ass chewings” has become part of the college football lexicon in the past few years. How difficult or taxing it actually is depends on who you ask.
The meticulous way Saban runs the Alabama program has become well known in football circles. It’s the grind of all grinds. After the Tide lost to Clemson on Jan. 7, the team spent the entire next day traveling back cross-country from California and didn’t arrive home until late Jan. 8. The staff had to be in for a 9 a.m. meeting the following day. One coach with knowledge of the schedule reasoned that in Saban’s mind that was giving everyone a little break because he didn’t schedule it for 90 minutes earlier.
One ex-Alabama assistant said Saban’s reputation is almost so notorious that he found working for him was not anywhere as rough as he heard it was going to be. But he added that the 67-year-old head coach “lacks a real personal relationship with the people he works with. It just feels like a business relationship.” Another former Tide assistant said he thinks coaches have a much better relationship with Saban after they’ve worked at Alabama than when they are there.
Videos of Saban ripping assistants during games have gone viral, but some former Tide staffers say it’s more the day-to-day existence that wears on them.
“You can deal with getting ripped on the sidelines because that’s emotion during the game,” says one former Alabama coach. “That’s way easier to deal with. That’s a couple of times a year. It’s just the non-stop for no reason stuff. When you’re there, then you realize how bullshit it is because it’s like scheduled. Like he’s going to bitch about the same shit on Sept. 6, or on the third day of camp, that he does every single year. It’s like it’s in his notes. So you realize that it’s not really just something that came up.”
In spite of that, or because of it, Saban has produced 11 consecutive top-10 Associated Press poll finishes, including seven years ranked in the top two. In the eyes of many around the sport, that level of achievement in the face of the coaching turnover is one of the most impressive aspects of the Alabama program.
“It’s one thing to have the unheard of success he’s having with the number of championships, but to be able to do it with new coaches each year is unbelievable, because I know for us at Clemson, the stability that we have is part of our success and I think it would be very difficult with a lot of turnover,” Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “Probably one of the biggest accomplishments in my opinion that Coach Saban has had is keeping that high level of success even with coaches leaving for other opportunities.”
That fact also wows one of Saban’s former assistants. “He turns over six assistants and still plays in the national title game. He thrives and does his best in what everybody else would perceive as chaos. His ability to function within that is phenomenal. I think the world of the guy,” the assistant said.
Another former Saban assistant said a lot of that falls under the process and structure that Saban has created in his own inner circle in Tuscaloosa.
“It doesn’t rely as much on assistant coaches because it is so structured,” the coach said. “He’s got two huge factors in (strength coach Scott) Cochran and (director of sports medicine) Jeff Allen that are the good cops. The players aren’t as miserable as the coaches because of those guys. They only deal with Saban a little bit. When you’re a coach, you deal with him all day. When you’re a player, you deal with Cochran and Jeff way more than you deal with Saban. And the other big thing is you’ve got better players than everybody you play. It’s not even close now. He’s out-recruited everybody.”
For as much as there’s been a sky-is-falling perception from some corners, it should be pointed out that two people familiar with the workings of the Alabama coaching staff had predicted before the Orange Bowl win against Oklahoma that there would be another huge wave of staff turnover coming this offseason, a wave that also includes two other on-field assistants who are expected to move on this offseason. The only real surprise was Enos, and perhaps Key, who in addition to working at his alma mater also is now coaching with one of his best friends, Collins.
Almost every person contacted for this story agreed that anyone who thinks the Tide are vulnerable in the wake of this turnover, from bringing in six new assistants last offseason to what could be as many as seven new assistants this offseason, coupled with the fact Saban is coming off his most lopsided defeat at Alabama, is going to be very disappointed.
“Some people are going to start to count Coach out, like they always do, that there’s too much turnover and this is the first time he’s ever gotten blown out at Alabama, and every time they say that, that the dynasty is over, he proves them wrong,” Kiffin said.
“And he’ll probably prove them all wrong again. His systems are so in place that they can deal with assistant coach turnover better than anywhere in America. He’s in his 10th, 11th year of the program and has his structure so nailed down that it can handle change and adversity better than anywhere else.”
By Bruce Feldman 6h ago
A blowout national championship loss to Clemson may not have been the biggest shock Nick Saban got last week.
Four days later in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was about to have its regular morning football staff meeting when Saban noticed someone was missing.
“Hey, where’s Dan?” Saban asked staffers, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, in reference to Dan Enos, the Tide’s quarterbacks coach who had just been promoted to become Alabama’s new offensive coordinator.
The offensive coordinator vacancy had been created by Mike Locksley leaving to become the head coach at Maryland. Much of the staff was on the road recruiting, but Saban and Enos were supposed to interview offensive line coaching candidates to replace Brent Key, who had taken a job at his alma mater Georgia Tech after three years with the Crimson Tide.
“Where’s Dan?”
Enos had done a terrific job as the Alabama quarterbacks coach in his first season in the program. A few days earlier, Locksley had raved about the work Enos had done training the Tide QBs to be more efficient in their decision-making. That work had carried over from the practice field into games, especially evidenced by Jalen Hurts’ finding the second receiver on several occasions when he came off the bench to rally Alabama past Georgia in the SEC title game.
Enos’ stock had soared in Saban’s eyes, from all accounts inside the Tide program. Saban was counting on Enos as Alabama would again have to navigate a staggering amount of staff turnover, even by Saban standards. After the 2017 season the Tide brought on six new assistant coaches. Locksley and Key were gone back to their home bases immediately after the 2018 season, as expected. Josh Gattis, the up-and-coming wideouts coach and co-offensive coordinator, had left the day before the staff meeting to take the offensive coordinator job at Michigan.
That same day, Enos’ name had surfaced as a candidate for offensive coordinator openings at Georgia and Miami. But at Alabama, Enos was getting handed the keys to the most explosive collection of skill-position talent the Tide have ever had: phenom quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Tua Tagovailoa, two five-star running backs and a quartet of blazing fast wideouts that led the country in big plays by a wide margin. However, there was no sign of Enos when the staff meeting was about to start.
“Where the F#$% is Dan?!?”
Several of the staffers knew the answer to their boss’ question. Word had already spread that 50-year-old Enos was headed to Miami to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Manny Diaz. No one in the room wanted to be the one to break that news to Saban, even though Miami was primed to announce it in a couple hours.
One staffer scrambled to check if Enos was in his office. It was empty, save for a pencil on the desk. Maybe he’d already moved into Locksley’s old office, but that one was empty, too.
“He moved out like the Colts,” said one person with knowledge of the matter, equating Enos’ departure to the middle-of-the-night exit by the old Baltimore NFL franchise to Indianapolis.
Less than a week after the Enos’ bombshell, there’s been more turnover on the Tide staff. On Wednesday, as The Athletic first reported, defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi accepted a job to become the Cleveland Browns’ defensive line coach. Lupoi was the best recruiter on the Alabama staff, with the primary responsibility for landing 2018 roster members Tagovailoa, Jonah Williams, Raekwon Davis, Najee Harris, Alex Leatherwood, Terrell Lewis, Trevon Diggs, Dylan Moses and Jaylen Waddle. That group may include a half-dozen future NFL Draft first-round picks, perhaps more.
But when Alabama lost to Clemson last week in a fashion unlike any other Saban-coached Crimson Tide team, the defense under first-year coordinator Lupoi took plenty of the blame. Alabama’s defense gave up 37 of Clemson’s 44 points, two more than Clemson scored on ’Bama in the 2017 title game and three fewer than Clemson got in the 2016 title game. No one seemed to remember that Alabama began the season with only three returning starters on defense, that it had lost its top six DBs to the NFL, its top pass rusher Lewis to injury and its top cover man Diggs at midseason. It was a group that had to face four of the top seven offenses in the FBS — two more than Alabama faced in the previous three years combined.
But Alabama lost the College Football Playoff championship game by 28 points, a result that left folks wondering if this is the start of a downturn in what has been the most impressive run in the history of the sport given all of the modern-day complexities of sustaining a dominant run.
In the wake of Enos’ departure, Saban reached out to a familiar face, recruiting Steve Sarkisian back to Alabama with the expectation that the 44-year-old Californian take over as offensive coordinator, according to people familiar with the situation. Sarkisian spent the 2016 season on the Alabama staff as an analyst and had a one-game stint as the Tide’s play caller in the national title game against Clemson after Lane Kiffin moved on to his FAU job.
After that game, Sarkisian served two seasons as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator but was fired in December even though Atlanta ranked No. 6 in the NFL in total offense. Sarkisian’s familiarity with Saban’s system seemed to make him a good fit for a team that might have a completely new offensive staff depending on whether running backs coach Joe Pannunzio returns.
Another plus for Sarkisian is his relationship with Tagovailoa. As the head coach at USC, Sarkisian was the first to offer a scholarship to the strong-armed Hawaiian. Sarkisian also has been interviewing prospective assistant coaches this week. Among the candidates considered to be in the mix for the Tide’s offensive line vacancy is former Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood, who worked as the Falcons’ offensive line coach under Sarkisian.
One of the O-line coaches on Saban’s wish list, people familiar with the matter say, was Jeff Stoutland, Alabama’s line coach in 2011 and 2012. Stoutland, now on the Philadelphia Eagles’ staff, loves Saban but not the schedule that comes with returning to Alabama and becoming a college coach again, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The reality is there is more of a grind coaching at the college level than in the NFL, which does not tie its coaches to recruiting 52 weeks of the year.
Turnover at powerhouse programs isn’t anything new. Often hot assistants get plucked off title-winning staffs to get the chance to run their own programs.
In the great run at USC under Pete Carroll, several of his protégés left for head coaching jobs — defensive coordinator Nick Holt took over the Idaho program; recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron took over at Ole Miss; offensive coordinator Kiffin got the Oakland Raiders’ head coaching job; Sarkisian got the Washington job.
After winning two national titles at Florida, Urban Meyer lost offensive coordinator Dan Mullen to Mississippi State and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong to Louisville.
What’s unique to Alabama is the significantly higher rate of staff turnover in conjunction with the significantly greater rate of championships and success. Saban has won five national titles with the Tide, and he’s had four different offensive coordinators for those titles — Jim McElwain (two), Doug Nussmeier, Kiffin and Brian Daboll. Saban also has seen 10 assistants from his Alabama staff get FBS head coaching jobs: Kiffin, Locksley, Billy Napier, Major Applewhite, Geoff Collins, Mel Tucker, Kirby Smart, Jeremy Pruitt, McElwain and Mario Cristobal.
Maintaining staff chemistry can be vexing. Florida State’s dynasty under Bobby Bowden toppled when he lost some key assistants — most notably Mark Richt and Chuck Amato — to their own head coaching jobs, and after a 14-year stretch of top-five poll finishes, the Seminoles never finished better than No. 10 in Bowden’s final nine seasons as coach.
In reality, there are three kinds of staff departures in Sabanland.
The first is getting a bigger job. Of those 10 future head coaches, Kiffin, Smart, Pruitt, McElwain and Locksley all left to run their own shop. Gattis would fit in this category as well, because he gets the chance to call plays for Michigan.
The second type seems to be unique to Alabama, where some assistants leave for seemingly lateral or lesser jobs. Several of those are coaches who get nudged out or are encouraged to find other jobs. And Saban is well-connected and respected enough to help facilitate interview opportunities. In addition, having Alabama on a résumé and being exposed to Saban’s “Process” makes assistants a lot more marketable. A few of those 10 former assistants who later landed head coaches jobs fit in this spot. Some Tide fans are convinced Lupoi is among those in this category, too.
“I think he likes the change because I think he thinks it keeps people from getting complacent,” one former Alabama assistant coach said of Saban.
The third type seems to be a much less common situation: An assistant decides life — and his career — is better served elsewhere, which apparently was the case for Enos.
One ex-Saban staffer says that before he moved to Tuscaloosa to take a job with the Tide, he knew it would be a short-term stay. “You know your shelf life there is probably not gonna be long,” he said, adding that Saban probably knows it, too. “Nick’s a phenomenal recruiter, and he’s a phenomenal recruiter of coaches.”
It’s no secret that Saban can be a challenging boss. The term “ass chewings” has become part of the college football lexicon in the past few years. How difficult or taxing it actually is depends on who you ask.
The meticulous way Saban runs the Alabama program has become well known in football circles. It’s the grind of all grinds. After the Tide lost to Clemson on Jan. 7, the team spent the entire next day traveling back cross-country from California and didn’t arrive home until late Jan. 8. The staff had to be in for a 9 a.m. meeting the following day. One coach with knowledge of the schedule reasoned that in Saban’s mind that was giving everyone a little break because he didn’t schedule it for 90 minutes earlier.
One ex-Alabama assistant said Saban’s reputation is almost so notorious that he found working for him was not anywhere as rough as he heard it was going to be. But he added that the 67-year-old head coach “lacks a real personal relationship with the people he works with. It just feels like a business relationship.” Another former Tide assistant said he thinks coaches have a much better relationship with Saban after they’ve worked at Alabama than when they are there.
Videos of Saban ripping assistants during games have gone viral, but some former Tide staffers say it’s more the day-to-day existence that wears on them.
“You can deal with getting ripped on the sidelines because that’s emotion during the game,” says one former Alabama coach. “That’s way easier to deal with. That’s a couple of times a year. It’s just the non-stop for no reason stuff. When you’re there, then you realize how bullshit it is because it’s like scheduled. Like he’s going to bitch about the same shit on Sept. 6, or on the third day of camp, that he does every single year. It’s like it’s in his notes. So you realize that it’s not really just something that came up.”
In spite of that, or because of it, Saban has produced 11 consecutive top-10 Associated Press poll finishes, including seven years ranked in the top two. In the eyes of many around the sport, that level of achievement in the face of the coaching turnover is one of the most impressive aspects of the Alabama program.
“It’s one thing to have the unheard of success he’s having with the number of championships, but to be able to do it with new coaches each year is unbelievable, because I know for us at Clemson, the stability that we have is part of our success and I think it would be very difficult with a lot of turnover,” Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “Probably one of the biggest accomplishments in my opinion that Coach Saban has had is keeping that high level of success even with coaches leaving for other opportunities.”
That fact also wows one of Saban’s former assistants. “He turns over six assistants and still plays in the national title game. He thrives and does his best in what everybody else would perceive as chaos. His ability to function within that is phenomenal. I think the world of the guy,” the assistant said.
Another former Saban assistant said a lot of that falls under the process and structure that Saban has created in his own inner circle in Tuscaloosa.
“It doesn’t rely as much on assistant coaches because it is so structured,” the coach said. “He’s got two huge factors in (strength coach Scott) Cochran and (director of sports medicine) Jeff Allen that are the good cops. The players aren’t as miserable as the coaches because of those guys. They only deal with Saban a little bit. When you’re a coach, you deal with him all day. When you’re a player, you deal with Cochran and Jeff way more than you deal with Saban. And the other big thing is you’ve got better players than everybody you play. It’s not even close now. He’s out-recruited everybody.”
For as much as there’s been a sky-is-falling perception from some corners, it should be pointed out that two people familiar with the workings of the Alabama coaching staff had predicted before the Orange Bowl win against Oklahoma that there would be another huge wave of staff turnover coming this offseason, a wave that also includes two other on-field assistants who are expected to move on this offseason. The only real surprise was Enos, and perhaps Key, who in addition to working at his alma mater also is now coaching with one of his best friends, Collins.
Almost every person contacted for this story agreed that anyone who thinks the Tide are vulnerable in the wake of this turnover, from bringing in six new assistants last offseason to what could be as many as seven new assistants this offseason, coupled with the fact Saban is coming off his most lopsided defeat at Alabama, is going to be very disappointed.
“Some people are going to start to count Coach out, like they always do, that there’s too much turnover and this is the first time he’s ever gotten blown out at Alabama, and every time they say that, that the dynasty is over, he proves them wrong,” Kiffin said.
“And he’ll probably prove them all wrong again. His systems are so in place that they can deal with assistant coach turnover better than anywhere in America. He’s in his 10th, 11th year of the program and has his structure so nailed down that it can handle change and adversity better than anywhere else.”
