Alabama in hunt for OC as O’Brien leaves
Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien is returning to the NFL after two years at Alabama, various sources have told ESPN.
With that, Alabama is now – again – looking for an offensive coordinator, to go with the defensive coordinator’s job it is looking for now Pete Golding has moved to Ole Miss to work under Lane Kiffin.
The list for a team like Alabama, who has the pedigree and the unlimited resources to get who they want in college football is seemingly endless.
Here are the Top 10 people Nick Saban should speak to:
- Joe Brady (QB coach, Buffalo Bills): After his incredible year at LSU, Brady came down with a thump at the Carolina Panthers, where his OC job lasted just one year. After that, he moved up North to coach Josh Allen at Buffalo Bills, where Allen threw for 4,283 yards and 35 TDs in 2022. The young QB stable of Jalen Milroe, former five-star Ty Simpson, four-stars Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan would benefit from Brady’s advice (remember what he did with Joe Burrow!). He’s also got hosses all over the field.
- Jeff Lebby (OC, Oklahoma): He’s been discussed at length in the college football circles as ‘being in conversation’ with Alabama. He’s got the SEC experience at Ole Miss, can coach a high-speed offense, and can (probably) deal with Saban. He’s also a great recruiter.
- Kliff Kingsbury (Currently in Thailand): After an ignominious coaching stint at Texas Tech and most recently Arizona, Kingsbury – allegedly – is in Thailand on a one-way ticket. No-one honestly knows that. What we do is that Kingsbury as an OC was one of the most vaunted OCs in the game, and with the players that Alabama has, can set the SEC alight. Again.
- Scott Frost (In the Artic): Frost’s time at Nebraska is well-known for its comedic virtues, but his time at UCF speaks for itself, where his high-speed offense frightened everybody and propelled the Knights from “Who are they?” to “We’re going to claim a Natty”. If Saban wants a high-speed offense, Frost would be the man.
- Dan Mullen (On TV): Let’s get this straight with Mullen. The guy’s a tool. You know, I know it, Saban knows it. But Saban worked perfectly well with another tool in Lane Kiffin. Mullen is used to the SEC, knows how to recruit it, can put together offenses like nothing else, and doesn’t have to worry about getting someone to coach defense.
- Holmon Wiggins (WR coach, Alabama): Wiggins is in his second season at Alabama and knows the offense inside-out. It’s pretty late for Alabama to get an OC because of the time of O’Brien’s exit, and Wiggins wouldn’t be a bad “Let’s see what you can do for 2023” kinda guy. Also, two of the best wide receivers he had in 2021 have made immediate impacts in the NFL (Davonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle). This year was a step-down (How could it not be?), but still went for 280 yards/game.
- Frank Reich (On The Beach): A good offensive mind and actually not a terrible head coach, was fired earlier this year after the Indianapolis Colts’ debacle of a season-start. He’s got a tidy offensive reputation when he was OC for a Super Bowl-winning Philly team, and could transport that to Tuscaloosa. Although having said all of that, O’Brien’s offensive philosophies hardly took off in Tuscalossa. Would Saban be keen to make the same mistake again?
- Adrian Klemm (Associate head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach at Oregon): The money’s as good in Oregon as it is in Tuscaloosa thanks to running shoes, but Alabama’s a step-up. Klemm already spoke to the Patriots about a potential OC job, so it’s not like he wants to stick around at this level, but the SEC is a better job than the Pac-12…especially next year when USC and UCLA are off to another party.
- Casey Woods (OC, Southern Methodist): In charge of a high-octane offense at SMU, Woods is used to recruiting and working in the SEC (He was TE coach at Missouri), so working under Saban won’t scare him. He’s young, affable and comes with a great offensive brain, which will serve him well with recruits. Woods’ connections with Texas will also help Saban to branch out even more and discover gem-like talent like Woods had to fo r SMU to compete.
- Brian Ferentz (OC, Iowa): Brilliant offensive coaching mind. Used to working with grumpy old men. Can help with the cold. Honest.