By Ben Jones and Terrin Waack
Alabama has officially announced the hiring of Dan Enos and Craig Kuligowski.
Enos will serve as associate head coach and quarterbacks coach while Kulugowski will be defensive line coach and associate head coach.
Alabama coach Nick Saban also announced the promotion of Mike Locksley and Tosh Lupoi and the moves of Burton Burns and Joe Pannunzio.
Locksley will be the new offensive coordinator while Lupoi will be the co-defensive coordinator. Josh Gattis will fill Locksley’s old position as wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator. Pete Golding was named inside linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator.
After 11 season as the Crimson Tide’s running backs coach, Burns is moving off the field to serve as the assistant athletics director for football. Burns was the only remaining on-field assistant from Saban’s first staff in 2007. Strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran and athletic trainer Jeff Allen were also original members.
Pannunzio will be the new running backs coach, as Jeff Banks transitions to tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.
Dan Enos
He comes to Alabama after spending the last three seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas. Enos was briefly hired to be wide receivers coach at Michigan after the 2017 season, but didn’t coach a game for the Wolverines.
“It is a privilege and an honor to join Coach Saban’s coaching staff at The University of Alabama,” Enos said. “I have an incredible amount of admiration for the rich tradition of football success at Alabama. I am really excited to be part of this program, and I can’t wait to get out on the field and get started.”
Arkansas’ offense was second in the conference in scoring and yards in 2015, averaging 35.9 points and 465.5 yards per game. The Razorbacks fell to eighth in the conference in yards and offense in 2016, then were eighth in scoring and ninth in yardage in 2017. Arkansas reached bowl games in Enos’ first two seasons before falling to 4-8 this season.
Enos was head coach at Central Michigan from 2010-2014. He went 26-36 in those five seasons with two bowl games.
“We are pleased and happy to have Dan Enos joining our coaching staff at The University of Alabama,” Saban said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge with five years of head coaching experience and numerous stops as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Dan is a bright football mind and an outstanding recruiter who will strengthen our coaching staff and give our players the best chance to be successful.”
Enos began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State under George Perles. He worked there from 1991-93. Enos was a quarterback at Michigan State from 1987-91. Saban was defensive coordinator for the Spartans in 1987, Enos’ freshman season.
He spent most of his early coaching career in the upper midwest and Great Lakes region. His first full-time coaching position was at Division III Lakeland University in Wisconsin, where he was offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and wide receivers coach in 1994-95. He moved on to Division II Northern Michigan in 1996, where he was offensive coordinator and running backs coach. He was quarterbacks coach and receivers at FCS Southern Illinois in 1997-98. He was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at FCS Missouri State in 1999.
His first FBS coaching job came at Western Michigan, where he was quarterbacks coach from 2000-02. After a year at Division II North Dakota State in 2003, he joined Mark Dantonio’s staff at Cincinnati.
He spent 2004 and 2005 there before returning to Michigan State as quarterbacks coach in 2006. Dantonio kept Enos on as running backs coach from 2007-09 when he arrived a year later.
Enos had been sought by other SEC schools. Kirby Smart expressed interest in hiring Enos to his first staff at Georgia, but a non-compete clause in his contract quashed that.
“He wanted to talk to my offensive coordinator and try to take Dan Enos, and I said, I appreciate it, but there’s a thing called the SEC clause, you can’t have him,” Bielema said at SEC Media Days in 2016. “Kind of stuck my tongue out, wiggled my nose and felt good about it.”
Craig Kuligowski
He comes to Alabama after spending two seasons as the defensive line and assistant head coach at Miami, where he helped lead the Hurricanes to the 2017 ACC Championship Game and the Capital One Orange Bowl.
“I have known Craig for a long time, going all the way back to my first head coaching job at Toledo when he was one of our starting offensive tackles,” Saban said. “He is an outstanding football coach who will bring great energy to our program. Craig does a tremendous job of developing players and has proven to be an exceptional recruiter.”
This past season, Miami was nationally ranked first in sacks (3.38) and third in tackles for loss (8.5). Three of the Hurricanes’ defensive linemen earned All-ACC recognition. RJ McIntosh was second team, Trent Harris was third team and Kendrick Norton was an honorable mention.
Kuligowski was promoted after his first season as defensive line coach in 2016 to assistance head coach.
Prior to Miami, Kuligowski coached the defensive line at Missouri for 15 years under head coach Gary Pinkel. There, Kuligowski became the second-longest tenured assistant coach in the league. Nicknamed Coach “Kool,” he produced 24 all-conference players, four first-round NFL draft picks since 2009 and 12 picks since 2002.
“I played my senior season at Toledo for Coach Saban, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work on his staff at Alabama,” Kuligowski said. “Coach’s program is the model of consistency and I am looking forward to helping continue that tradition of success with an exception group of players and coaches.”
At Toledo from 1987-190, Kuligowski was an offensive tackle. He was named First Team All-MAC in his final two seasons, the last one with Saban at the helm. In Kuligowski’s senior season and Saban’s first season, the Rockets won the MAC title.
