Alabama saw a major shakeup this offseason as it brought in six new assistant coaches to its staff. The Crimson Tide also promoted Mike Locksley to offensive coordinator and Tosh Lupoi to defensive coordinator while switching Joe Pannunzio to running backs coach. Offensive line coach Brent Key is the only member of the current staff to remain in the same role he held last season.
Here’s a look at what’s been said this offseason about all 10 of Alabama’s assistant coaches.
Mike Locksley — offensive coordinator
"I think that his enthusiasm and his attention to detail is something that he definitely adds to our offense. The way that he emphasizes those details, day in and day out in meetings, on the practice field, those are all things that he does. So, I think that that’s something that he can bring to our offense.” — running back Damien Harris
"He really shares his time equally between all the position, and I really think that helps, not only him but us to figure out our dynamic with the offensive coordinator and to really grow a relationship with him. Because in the past, the offensive coordinator has always been working with the quarterbacks. So we really feel like he's all of our coach now, not just one position coach. So that's been great for us." — tight end Hale Hentges
Tosh Lupoi — defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach
"He brings the energy every day to everybody on the team. One thing he does really well, he’s a really good teacher. He likes to break things down to the concepts, and that way you learn the foundations and they it builds from there. Like I said, he just brings the energy and guys take to him very well.
"He has the same kind of energy in the meeting room as he does on the field. He likes to make sure we’re all up and focused. He has fun in there because you can’t be too serious, you’ll lose guys that way. He likes to have some fun with it, and he’ll joke around a little bit. But like I said, he’s got high energy, and you can’t help but pay attention when you’ve got a guy like that. It’s good.” — outside linebacker Christian Miller
"This guy clearly loves the game of football and he loves his players. I’m proud of him, I’m thankful for him as a coach, and I think he’s going to do so well as the defensive coordinator.” — outside linebacker Jamey Mosley
Jeff Banks — special teams coordinator/tight ends
“He’s been great for us. He’s doing a really good job. Obviously, at Texas A&M, he was very good for them. They were always one team, especially on special teams, that always gave us a lot of trouble. So he kind of brings that same fire, energy and passion to our team. And he’s done a really good job for us. I like how intense, how fiery and how vocal he is. I really have enjoyed working with him. I think he’s got a wealth of knowledge, and overall he’s just done a really good job for us. So I’m excited to working more with him. I really just think we’re going to have a really good relationship and it’s going to be a good time for us.” — tight end Hale Hentges
"He's more intense. He's a great coach. He recruited me at A&M and he's back here. We had a relationship before and we're just building on that.” — tight end Irv Smith
Dan Enos — associate head coach/quarterbacks
"We've learned a lot. It's a lot different now from last year. Last year we didn't really have a certified, specific position coach and now that we do, it gives us the opportunity to have someone really hone in and focus in on our position. — quarterback Tua Tagovailoa
"He brings a lot of energy, even in the fourth-quarter [program] I saw that. We would go to his drill and he’d be fired up and just kind of trying to keep the pace going. If he saw us lacking in one of the drills he’d try to fire us up and yell at us and whatnot. He brings a lot of fire and a lot of juice. I’m not around him too much, but I hear him. [The quarterback] meeting room is right next to ours, so I always hear him yelling and being loud and vocal. I think that’s good for our quarterbacks. Hopefully, he’ll have them grow as well. — offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher
Josh Gattis — co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers
“I think he brings a lot of great energy to the wide receiver room. He’s a very vocal leader and he gives a lot of good leadership to his wide receivers. From talking to all the wide receivers, they really enjoy working with him. He brings a lot of knowledge to the game. He’s even helped me out a little bit with my routes, too. Even though he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to personally talk to me, but just being out there on the field, if he sees something he’ll tell me. Obviously coming from Penn State, it’s a phenomenal program and he has a lot of experience and knowledge. So he’s been great for us.” — tight end Hale Hentges
Pete Golding — co-defensive coordinator/inside linebackers
"Coach Pete is a great coach. He definitely reminds me a lot of Coach Pruitt with coaching style. I feel like both of them bring great energy to the defense and to the linebacker position. I really like him. He's really a good coach ever since I first met him, I was like, 'You're going to be a great coach and you're going to help us out a lot.' I learned a lot from him so far, and I hope we carry the same energy through the rest of fall camp and throughout the whole season to continue to make us better as a group.” — inside linebacker Mack Wilson
Brent Key — offensive line
"As a person, he’s kind of funny. He has the offensive line side and the coaching side where he can be hard to you or whatever, coach you hard. He’s going to do that. Then there’s also the goofy side where he’s more relaxed, laid back. You can go in and actually talk to him and have a normal conversation. That was something different I wasn’t really used to before coming up. It’s been nice and refreshing to have that.” — offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher
Craig Kuligowski — associate head coach/defensive line
“Coach Kool is amazing, man. He just comes in with a great personality, a great hard-head type of mentality. That’s what we love. That’s like what he instills in us. He wants us to be hard-head working guys. We got to push that onto the linebackers, the linebackers got to follow with the DBs, so everybody can have the same mentality as the coaches.” — defensive lineman Quinnen Williams
"When you have a coach like that who has produced that many first-rounders, you know that you hired the best. He's coming along and learning the new system very well. We're all just getting along. We're going to be great this year." — defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs
Joe Pannunzio — running backs
"All the running backs and all the guys on offense respect Coach Pannunzio, and I know just well as everybody else does that he’s only trying to help us get better. He has a job to do. I don’t think that he came in like, ‘I don’t want this job.’ He has a job to do as well, so we’re all working together to do whatever we can to make this team have the best season that we can.” — running back Damien Harris
Karl Scott — defensive backs
"He's a high-intensity coach. He's on us every day. He comes out with a lot of energy, and he brings the energy out in us. So, we come to practice on a high horse, and you just have to practice.” — defensive back Deionte Thompson
