Six new faces went through their first Alabama spring practice Tuesday afternoon and not a one of them was a student-athlete. Six of the 10 Crimson Tide assistant coaches are new this year, leading one to wonder if the new coaches had to practice had the Alabama way of where to be and when to be there before the first day.
On offense, the new assistant coaches are Dan Enos, Josh Gattis and Jeff Banks. On defense, it’s Karl Scott, Pete Golding and Craig Kuligowski.
Asked about all the changes, UA coach Nick Saban said the changes were necessitated.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Saban said. “You make it sound like I did it on purpose.”
In an interview earlier this week with ESPN.com, Saban allowed that he did consciously choose younger coaches to fill out his staff. That part was on purpose. Early on, they’re fitting in and making their mark.
“I think they’re all working hard, and they’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of new ideas,” Saban said. “You know, I’m excited about our staff. These guys have been great, they’re really aggressive recruiters, the players like them, I’m really excited about them. I really am.
“Now there’s a lot of changes on our staff, I can’t deny that. You know we have a new defensive coordinator, we have a new offensive coordinator, we have a new special teams coordinator, we have six new faces around here, but they all seem to fit in and they’re all doing extremely well. I’m excited about them and I like every one of them and to be honest with you, we’re very, very fortunate and hit a home run with the guys we were able to hire.”
