Report: Alabama set to hire SEC coach for offensive line job

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are making a coaching change, as Kentucky offensive line coach Eric Wolford has accepted the same job at Alabama, according to a report from ESPN’s Chris Low.

Wolford will replace former offensive line coach Doug Marrone, who was previously the head coach for both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills. The move has been expected since Sunday night when it was first reported that Alabama could be looking to make a switch at the position. According to the report, Wolford was the “likely” target for Saban.

Alabama struggled with the offensive line at times during the season, especially from the right-hand side. Quarterback Bryce Young was sacked 42 times this season, ranking No. 106 in college football. Only LSU and Tennessee gave up more in the SEC.

The problem was prevalent in the College Football Playoff national championship as well. Georgia was able to get to the quarterback four different times, being a key factor in the loss for Alabama; the hope is that Wolford can clean up some of the protection issues for Young heading into 2022.

Running the ball was not any easier, at least to the standard the Crimson Tide are used to. They only gained 150 yards per game and had to rely on the brilliance of Young to win football games.

Wolford would be leaving Lexington after his first season with the Wildcats program. His unit was a finalist for Joe Moore Award, an award handed out annually to the nation’s top offensive line group, and Wolford helped gain a commitment from Kiyaunta Goodwin on the recruiting trail, an On3 Consensus four-star offensive tackle that many programs tried to lure away from the Wildcats.

Though Wolford spent just one season at Kentucky, he’s no stranger to the SEC. The move to Alabama would mark Wolford’s third stop at an SEC school; he previously coached South Carolina’s offensive line from 2017 until 2020 before joining Mark Stoops at Kentucky. Plus, much earlier in Wolford’s career, he had a separate stint in the SEC, coaching at South Carolina in 2009 under then-head coach Steve Spurrier.

Wolford, 50, is a native of Youngstown, Ohio, and played college ball at Kansas State.

Among his early-career coaching stops were Kansas State, Emporia State, South Florida, Houston, North Texas, Arizona and Illinois. More recently, after his first stint at South Carolina, he coached for five seasons at Youngstown State, where he served as the head coach, before making the jump to the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers. He spent two seasons as the 49ers’ assistant offensive line coach, then in 2017 moved to offensive line coach, where he stayed until his departure for Kentucky in 2021.