Report: Florida hiring new Alabama ILB coach Austin Armstrong for DC role
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama officially announced the hire of Austin Armstrong as its new inside linebackers coach barely over a week ago. Yet, it was only a short stay in Tuscaloosa for the former Southern Miss defensive coordinator.
With Billy Napier and the Florida Gators losing co-defensive coordinator and play-caller Patrick Toney to the Arizona Cardinals, Armstrong is now heading to Gainesville to take over as the team’s defensive coordinator. The news of that possibility was first broken by Chris Low with ESPN on Tuesday night. On3 college football reporter Matt Zenitz has since confirmed that move is, indeed, happening.
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Seeing Armstrong leave so soon is an unfortunate loss for Alabama. No, I don’t think it’s crippling. Nick Saban is still Nick Saban, and I think everyone should still have faith in his ability to overcome obstacles. I’m a big fan of Armstrong though.
Sure, Alabama needs — and probably wants — more of that old school coaching feel that new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is bringing to the table. But at the same time, Armstrong was supposed to be the one to balance things out and replace what’s being lost with Pete Golding’s departure.
Golding is a young defensive mind who understands the big picture defensively due to his experience as a coordinator. Armstrong provides both of those things. He has a reputation of having a great defensive mind. Plus, his experience as a defensive coordinator while at Southern Miss helps him see the defense as a whole.
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Alabama defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson certainly brings some of that as well. But there’s a reason Armstrong is a being hired as a high-profile SEC defensive coordinator before the age of 30. This guy has a bright future in the industry, which is why it’s an unfortunate loss for Alabama.
Armstrong was a defensive quality control coach at Georgia under Kirby Smart back in 2019.
He then took a job as the inside linebackers coach at Louisiana, which is where he worked as a graduate assistant from 2017-18. Napier was the head coach for the Ragin’ Cajuns in 2018, so there’s already some familiarity there. Armstrong then left to become the defensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2020.
We’re talking about the loss over on the Talk of Champions message board along with thousands of Alabama fans. If you want to join in on the conversation and see what others are saying about losing Armstrong, click here.
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