The Latest
Tuesday, December 11
9:30 a.m.
Just in. Dan Enos is the new OC at Alabama. Read more here
7:20 a.m.
To open Tuesday..
There are some talks out there that Saban could ask Mike Locksley to leave before the Orange Bowl. I'm not sure how much stock is in this as Saban has allowed former assistants that were hired as head coaches elsewhere to stay on through the playoffs.
Here are some updates regarding assistant coach movements at Alabama. Regarding offensive analyst Butch Jones. Several sites are reporting that Jones to Maryland is a done deal as of Monday, December 10. I've heard as the tight ends coach, receiver coach, offensive coordinator, etc. He's only an analyst at Alabama but would have likely been elevated to an offensive position coach with the departure of Mike Locksley to Maryland. There are also reports that Jones has inquired about the head coaching position at Temple, but him landing in Maryland looks more likely at this moment.
There is another update on Josh Gattis who is the receivers coach at Alabama. Gattis who joined the staff last year was reportedly headed with Locksley to Maryland last week, but that was quickly shot down. Today there are reports that he is in the running for the head coaching job at Appalachian State. Gattis was born in North Carolina and played at Wake Forest, so he would know the area. I've also heard that the talks between Gattis and Maryland coach Mike Locksley are not over. Trying to find out more today.
Friday, December 7
* 5:15 p.m.
Hugh Freeze is off the board for Alabama. Not even sure if he was on the board to begin with. Today on December 7, Freeze was hired to be the head coach at Liberty.
* 7:40 a.m.
A few things to start off with. One Dan Enos did not apply for the Tennessee OC Job. I know that been floated around, but a source tells me Enos and Tennessee is not going to go down. Obviously, that is great news for Alabama. To recap, yesterday Football scoop said that Alabama receivers coach Josh Gattis was headed to Maryland with Locksley, that is inaccurate. That is also good news for Alabama.
What I am hearing on Hugh Freeze. Continued talks between him and Flordia State are ongoing and we should know the outcome by today or tomorrow. Florida State wants him bad, Jimmy Sexton, who is Freeze's agent wants 2M in return.
It’s also being reported that Freeze has accepted the head job at Liberty.
Thursday, December 6
* 4:00 p.m
Icymi, football scoop had a story today saying Josh Gattis was headed to Maryland to coach with Mike Locksley. I’ve been told by a source that this is 1000% incorrect.
Read more
https://alabama.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-latest-on-gattis.92513/
* 10:00 am
What I am hearing on Hugh Freeze. Alabama and Florida State seem like the two top options for the former Ole Miss head coach. According to our friends at Warchant.com, Jimmy Sexton who is the agent of Freeze wants a salary of 2M per year for Freeze. If Florida State is willing to pony-up that type of cash, then it seems like it would be a done deal. I have not heard much on the Alabama OC as of late and that is because Locksley will stay on-board with the Crimson Tide through the playoffs. That should give Nick Saban plenty of time of vet through candidates and see what does go down with Freeze and Florida State.
Wednesday, December 5
* 12:45 PM
A few things. Enos never applied for the OC job at Tennessee. May have been approached by Pruitt, but never applied. Enos has not been named the OC at Alabama as of today.
Here are some early thoughts on what will happen after Mike Locksley leaves Alabama.
I’ll answer this right away: Will Mike Locksley leave now or stay through the national title game? Locksley will stay with Alabama until its season is complete. That may seem absurd to most, but the same exact thing happened last year when Jeremy Pruitt was hired on as the head coach at Tennessee. The coaching aspect was not strange, it was the recruiting aspect. From what I remember last year, Pruitt would coach with Alabama during the day and do all his recruiting at night and remember, Locksley will try to add prospects to Maryland’s 2019 class.
Andrew Bone spoke with several Alabama committed prospects and nearly all of them said that Locksley leaving does not affect their commitment status with the Tide. December 19 is the early signing day, so we’ll see what transpires there. Where this might have the biggest impact recruiting-wise is Locksley has been the lead recruiter for Trey Sanders and Evan Neal, two 5-stars out of the IMG Academy. I think Locksley leaving now hurts Alabama in that regard, but Bone will know more on the status of Sanders and Neal. I know from reading Bone’s most recent report that Alabama receivers coach Josh Gattis made a trip to Florida yesterday to meet with those prospects.
With Locksley out of the picture what will happen and who will jump on-board?
Potential Candidates
Rich Rodriguez
Former head coach at Arizona from 2012-2017
The latest on Rodriguez: Alabama loves the zone-read and who better to continue to implement zone-read ideas than Rich Rod who some say invented the zone-read to begin with. Rodriguez to Alabama seems very likely and actually, he was just seen in Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago in the football facility. The connection is strong between Rodriguez and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne as it was Byrne who hired Rodriguez back in 2012 when both were at Arizona. Rodriguez faced sexual harassment allegations back in December of 2018 by a former administrative assistant, which Rodriguez and his lawyers denied all claims.
Derek Dooley
Current offensive coordinator at Missouri
The latest on Dooley: Dooley just helped Missouri land former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant and has also helped mold and shape quarterback Drew Lock who is projected as a first round NFL Draft pick. Dooley has done a fantastic job at Missouri and has also spent time with the Dallas Cowboys as their receivers coach from 2013-17 and was hired before by Nick Saban to coach tight ends and receivers from 2000-02, then was named the assistant head coach at LSU, and left with Saban from LSU to coach with the Miami Dolphins as their tight end coach, in total he was with Saban from 2000-06.
With all this said, please note that these are just some a few options that might make sense and that none of this is concrete. Why? Because Alabama already has two offensive coaches on-board that could shoulder the load of being Alabama’s new offensive coordinator. Really, three offensive coaches if you add Butch Jones.
Already on staff
Dan Enos (Front Runner for the OC)
Current role at Alabama: Associate head coach/quarterbacks coach
Quick resume: Enos has done a fabulous job in his first year at Alabama and has clearly had a high impact developing quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts. Enos has tons of offensive experience rating from being the quarterback's coach and offensive coordinator at Arkansas as well as the head coach at Central Michigan 2010-14. You have to think that Enos is the front-runner right now for this position.
Josh Gattis
Current role at Alabama: Co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach
Quick resume: Gattis, who is just 34 years old, has already has been a part of an ACC Championship, Big Ten Championship, and an SEC Championship and did an amazing job with the Alabama receivers this year. Gattis also was involved in a lot of the RPO play-calling this season. Before Alabama, he was the receivers coach at Penn State.
Butch Jones
Current role at Alabama: Offensive analyst
Quick resume: Saban is always playing chess and added the former Tennessee head coach as an offensive analyst following the 2017 season. Remember, Locksley was an analyst at Alabama just three short seasons ago. Jones has head coaching experience at Tennessee from 2013-17 and was also the head coach at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Jones has in an incredible amount of knowledge that he could add to Alabama.
Tuesday, December 11
9:30 a.m.
Just in. Dan Enos is the new OC at Alabama. Read more here
7:20 a.m.
To open Tuesday..
There are some talks out there that Saban could ask Mike Locksley to leave before the Orange Bowl. I'm not sure how much stock is in this as Saban has allowed former assistants that were hired as head coaches elsewhere to stay on through the playoffs.
Here are some updates regarding assistant coach movements at Alabama. Regarding offensive analyst Butch Jones. Several sites are reporting that Jones to Maryland is a done deal as of Monday, December 10. I've heard as the tight ends coach, receiver coach, offensive coordinator, etc. He's only an analyst at Alabama but would have likely been elevated to an offensive position coach with the departure of Mike Locksley to Maryland. There are also reports that Jones has inquired about the head coaching position at Temple, but him landing in Maryland looks more likely at this moment.
There is another update on Josh Gattis who is the receivers coach at Alabama. Gattis who joined the staff last year was reportedly headed with Locksley to Maryland last week, but that was quickly shot down. Today there are reports that he is in the running for the head coaching job at Appalachian State. Gattis was born in North Carolina and played at Wake Forest, so he would know the area. I've also heard that the talks between Gattis and Maryland coach Mike Locksley are not over. Trying to find out more today.
Friday, December 7
* 5:15 p.m.
Hugh Freeze is off the board for Alabama. Not even sure if he was on the board to begin with. Today on December 7, Freeze was hired to be the head coach at Liberty.
* 7:40 a.m.
A few things to start off with. One Dan Enos did not apply for the Tennessee OC Job. I know that been floated around, but a source tells me Enos and Tennessee is not going to go down. Obviously, that is great news for Alabama. To recap, yesterday Football scoop said that Alabama receivers coach Josh Gattis was headed to Maryland with Locksley, that is inaccurate. That is also good news for Alabama.
What I am hearing on Hugh Freeze. Continued talks between him and Flordia State are ongoing and we should know the outcome by today or tomorrow. Florida State wants him bad, Jimmy Sexton, who is Freeze's agent wants 2M in return.
It’s also being reported that Freeze has accepted the head job at Liberty.
Thursday, December 6
* 4:00 p.m
Icymi, football scoop had a story today saying Josh Gattis was headed to Maryland to coach with Mike Locksley. I’ve been told by a source that this is 1000% incorrect.
Read more
https://alabama.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-latest-on-gattis.92513/
* 10:00 am
What I am hearing on Hugh Freeze. Alabama and Florida State seem like the two top options for the former Ole Miss head coach. According to our friends at Warchant.com, Jimmy Sexton who is the agent of Freeze wants a salary of 2M per year for Freeze. If Florida State is willing to pony-up that type of cash, then it seems like it would be a done deal. I have not heard much on the Alabama OC as of late and that is because Locksley will stay on-board with the Crimson Tide through the playoffs. That should give Nick Saban plenty of time of vet through candidates and see what does go down with Freeze and Florida State.
Wednesday, December 5
* 12:45 PM
A few things. Enos never applied for the OC job at Tennessee. May have been approached by Pruitt, but never applied. Enos has not been named the OC at Alabama as of today.
Here are some early thoughts on what will happen after Mike Locksley leaves Alabama.
I’ll answer this right away: Will Mike Locksley leave now or stay through the national title game? Locksley will stay with Alabama until its season is complete. That may seem absurd to most, but the same exact thing happened last year when Jeremy Pruitt was hired on as the head coach at Tennessee. The coaching aspect was not strange, it was the recruiting aspect. From what I remember last year, Pruitt would coach with Alabama during the day and do all his recruiting at night and remember, Locksley will try to add prospects to Maryland’s 2019 class.
Andrew Bone spoke with several Alabama committed prospects and nearly all of them said that Locksley leaving does not affect their commitment status with the Tide. December 19 is the early signing day, so we’ll see what transpires there. Where this might have the biggest impact recruiting-wise is Locksley has been the lead recruiter for Trey Sanders and Evan Neal, two 5-stars out of the IMG Academy. I think Locksley leaving now hurts Alabama in that regard, but Bone will know more on the status of Sanders and Neal. I know from reading Bone’s most recent report that Alabama receivers coach Josh Gattis made a trip to Florida yesterday to meet with those prospects.
With Locksley out of the picture what will happen and who will jump on-board?
Potential Candidates
Rich Rodriguez
Former head coach at Arizona from 2012-2017
The latest on Rodriguez: Alabama loves the zone-read and who better to continue to implement zone-read ideas than Rich Rod who some say invented the zone-read to begin with. Rodriguez to Alabama seems very likely and actually, he was just seen in Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago in the football facility. The connection is strong between Rodriguez and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne as it was Byrne who hired Rodriguez back in 2012 when both were at Arizona. Rodriguez faced sexual harassment allegations back in December of 2018 by a former administrative assistant, which Rodriguez and his lawyers denied all claims.
Derek Dooley
Current offensive coordinator at Missouri
The latest on Dooley: Dooley just helped Missouri land former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant and has also helped mold and shape quarterback Drew Lock who is projected as a first round NFL Draft pick. Dooley has done a fantastic job at Missouri and has also spent time with the Dallas Cowboys as their receivers coach from 2013-17 and was hired before by Nick Saban to coach tight ends and receivers from 2000-02, then was named the assistant head coach at LSU, and left with Saban from LSU to coach with the Miami Dolphins as their tight end coach, in total he was with Saban from 2000-06.
With all this said, please note that these are just some a few options that might make sense and that none of this is concrete. Why? Because Alabama already has two offensive coaches on-board that could shoulder the load of being Alabama’s new offensive coordinator. Really, three offensive coaches if you add Butch Jones.
Already on staff
Dan Enos (Front Runner for the OC)
Current role at Alabama: Associate head coach/quarterbacks coach
Quick resume: Enos has done a fabulous job in his first year at Alabama and has clearly had a high impact developing quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts. Enos has tons of offensive experience rating from being the quarterback's coach and offensive coordinator at Arkansas as well as the head coach at Central Michigan 2010-14. You have to think that Enos is the front-runner right now for this position.
Josh Gattis
Current role at Alabama: Co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach
Quick resume: Gattis, who is just 34 years old, has already has been a part of an ACC Championship, Big Ten Championship, and an SEC Championship and did an amazing job with the Alabama receivers this year. Gattis also was involved in a lot of the RPO play-calling this season. Before Alabama, he was the receivers coach at Penn State.
Butch Jones
Current role at Alabama: Offensive analyst
Quick resume: Saban is always playing chess and added the former Tennessee head coach as an offensive analyst following the 2017 season. Remember, Locksley was an analyst at Alabama just three short seasons ago. Jones has head coaching experience at Tennessee from 2013-17 and was also the head coach at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. Jones has in an incredible amount of knowledge that he could add to Alabama.
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