On Friday, January 19 reports surfaced that Alabama hired Mike Locksley to take over as offensive coordinator. Locksley, 48 will replace Brian Daboll who coached the quarterbacks and was the offensive coordinator for the 2017 season. Locksley will enter his third year with the Crimson Tide serving as an offensive analyst in 2016, then was promoted to receivers coach before being promoted for the second time under Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
Is this a good hire? Here are five takes on Locksley being dubbed as the offensive coordinator at Alabama.
1. Overall experience
"We are excited to add Mike Locksley to our staff as an assistant coach on the offensive side of the football," Saban said at the start of last season. "He is an outstanding offensive mind who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as both a head coach and offensive coordinator.” Locksley was an offensive coordinator at Maryland during the 2013 season helping the Terrapins rack up over 5,000-yards. Locksley has over 20-years of experience and was also an assistant coach at Illinois where the Illini led the Big Ten in rushing during the 2006 and the 2007 season. Locksley was also the Head Coach at New Mexico from 2008 to 2011.
2. Mentored by Saban
You can look at a man by who he surrounds himself with and a man that is being mentored is a man that is still looking to learn and to grow within the profession. Nick Saban has taken Locksley under his wing over the last two seasons and provided Locksley an opportunity to learn from the best. “We’d be here for days if we talked about all of the things I’ve learned under Nick Saban,” Locksley said during an interview with BamaInsider.com during the Sugar Bowl. “As an analyst during 2016, I would sit in every staff meeting and have my i-pad out and take pages and pages of notes. To have an opportunity to work with Nick Saban and to see why Alabama it what it is has been a tremendous learning experience for me as a coach.”
3. Recruiting ability
Locksley is known as an “ACE” recruiter and that is another key reason Alabama has made sure to continue to promote Locksley within the program. Most recently, Locksley has been the lead recruiter on prospects such as five-star Eyabi Anoma, Alabama’s only five-star signee from the Class of 2018. Locksley has been known to dominate the Maryland recruiting scene and landing Anoma was an outstanding addition for Alabama. Locksley also played a big role in helping Alabama land Christian Barmore, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound defensive tackle from Philadelphia. Those two signees for Alabama in Locksley’s first year as a coach that can recruit speak volumes of what is to come from his recruiting ability. Locksley also recruited Stephon Diggs who committed to Maryland in 2012, Diggs recently made that famous touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings to help propel the Vikings to the NFC Championship game.
4. Resiliency of a man
A sign of a man is his ability to get back up when he’s faced adversity. Locksley’s son Meiko was shot and killed in September of 2017 in a tragic event that no family should have to face. Locksley continued to coach his receivers with great professionalism, and dealt with a tragic event like a man should, with strong character. Locksley also went through a very tough time while as the head coach at New Mexico. From 2008 to 2011, the Lobos went 2-26, including two seasons going 1-11. Locksley didn’t fold up his profession, he took the learning experience and carried on to work on his craft and it’s pretty amazing that he’s worked his way back to be the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Not a lot of people can suffer setbacks and deal with tragic events in their life and bounce back to continue to climb. His life experience and resiliency will provide great mentorship for the Alabama football players.
5. Something to prove
With any big promotion, there is a want to succeed, prove the doubters wrong, and I think Locksley has something to prove landing this job. There is a lot is a lot of skepticism about his past, but remember that the past does not represent the future and Nick Saban has his back, which carries a tremendous amount of weight. With the amount of talent Alabama has returning and the coaching additions Alabama has made, Locksley is going to leave his mark on a program that continues to do the unthinkable. Give him a shot, Locksley deserves this.
Note: I've known Mike Locksley since 2008 as I published Loboland.com for Rivals.com. As mentioned, during that time Locksley took over as head coach. I knew Mieko, his son who passed away and also know Kai Locksley who just committed to play football at UTEP.
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