Alabama hires former Michigan LBs coach George Helow; he will begin work 'immediately'
Former Michigan Wolverines football linebackers coach George Helow wasn’t on a staff in the 2023 college football season, after being let go by U-M following the 2022 campaign, until Nick Saban and Alabama hired him this week.
According to The Athletic, Helow will “begin work immediately” as the Crimson Tide prepares to play Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl. The report did not include what Helow’s job title will be.
Helow was hired in Ann Arbor before the 2021 campaign, and he spent two seasons working under head coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinators Mike Macdonald (2021) and Jesse Minter (2022-present).
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The former Michigan assistant was a defensive intern at Alabama in 2012, before being a graduate assistant at Florida State in 2013. He earned his first full-time, on-field coaching job at Georgia, where he mentored the safeties (2014-15). Helow went on to work at Colorado State (graduate assistant from 2016-17 and safeties from 2018-19) and Maryland (2020; special teams / inside linebackers) before coming to Michigan.
Helow was replaced by Chris Partridge in 2023. Partridge was let go by the University of Michigan in November after failing to comply with a university order pertaining to an NCAA investigation into the program. Rick Minter, father of defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and a longtime college coach, is working with the U-M linebackers in the interim.
Michigan and Alabama will compete for a spot in the national championship game against the winner of Sugar Bowl participants Texas and Washington. The Wolverines are 1.5-point favorites over the Crimson Tide, according to Las Vegas sportsbooks.
Alabama won the SEC with a win over Georgia in the conference championship game. The Crimson Tide are 12-1, with the lone loss coming to Texas Sept. 9, 34-24.
Saban’s crew ranks 19th in the country with 35.1 points per game and is allowing only 18.4 points per contest, slotting 17th in the sport. Theoretically, Helow would be able to help Alabama prepare for Michigan on both sides of the ball, since he was inside Schembechler Hall for two seasons. But he could especially could aid the Tide offense as it prepares to face U-M’s No. 1 scoring defense that includes a scheme and many players Helow is familiar with.
