Greg McElroy addresses instability of offensive coordinator position at Alabama

Greg McElroy had an explanation for Alabama’s turnover at the offensive coordinator position.

Bill O’Brien just left that post and returned to the NFL when he took the same position with the New England Patriots. However, O’Brien was not the only one to do so in the same fashion.

McElroy explained why the Alabama offensive coordinator spot changed so much recently under Nick Saban.

“What I will say though, defensive coordinator doesn’t turn over quite as much (as the offensive coordinator),” McElroy said on Always College Football. “Pete Golding has been there for a handful of years. Jeremy Pruitt has been there obviously in the past, Kirby Smart before that. There have been a handful of guys on the defensive side, but seldom does that position really turn over with a lot of regularity.

“However, on the offensive side, this is now going to be the sixth offensive coordinator hired by Nick Saban in the last eight years.” 

O’Brien returned to the New England Patriots as the offensive coordinator but worked under Bill Belichick in the past. However, he was just at Alabama for two years as the offensive coordinator before changing jobs, something McElroy pointed out.

“A couple guys have been one-and-done now,” McElroy said. “They’ve all gotten jobs. Brian Daboll eventually got a job with the Buffalo Bills and parlayed that into a job that the New York Giants where he is now the head coach. Mike Locksley was there for one year, went to become the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins. Steve Sarkisian was there for two years, now of course is  the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. This has been a great launching pad for whoever takes the job at least in years past … 

“So you know, Nick Saban will do a great job of identifying possible direction that he wants to take the team in, and you got to think whoever gets the job will be in line to potentially get a big gig down the road.”

Lane Kiffin also left the Alabama offensive coordinator spot for the Florida Atlantic head coaching gig. He parlayed that job into the Ole Miss job and recently signed a contract extension.

O’Brien worked closely with Bryce Young and helped him become the first Alabama quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy in 2021. With New England, where he worked from 2007-11, gets another former Crimson Tide star in Mac Jones.

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Alabama fans voiced their frustration after some tough performances on offense even though the Crimson Tide averaged almost one more point per game than last year. However, Alabama saw its total offense drop from 488.2 yards per game in 2021 to 475.7 yards per contest in 2022.