Alabama
Where Alabama’s 2023 coaching staff ended up after Saban’s retirement
When Nick Saban retired on Jan. 10, it didn’t just impact the man who had been Alabama football’s head coach for 17 seasons. Saban’s final Crimson Tide staff has seen significant change, since the final game of the 2023 campaign.
Even before Saban’s retirement, there was turnover in Tuscaloosa. Since Kalen DeBoer’s hiring, all but two of last season’s assistants have left the program.
Here’s a look at where each of UA’s on-field assistants from the 2023 season have landed.
Kevin Steele– Retired
The news of Steele’s retirement came before Saban’s. After three stints at Alabama, the defensive coordinator opted to hang it up.
His career began in 1980 and included a stint as Baylor’s head coach. He also spent time as the defensive coordinator at Auburn and Miami.
Tommy Rees– Cleveland Browns
Rees spent a single season in Tuscaloosa as Saban’s final offensive coordinator. It was his second coordinator job, after he moved over from his alma mater, Notre Dame, before the 2023 campaign.
He will reportedly coach tight ends for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
Holmon Wiggins– Texas A&M
Texas A&M scooped up Wiggins to join its new staff, under head coach Mike Elko. The former Duke head coach took over after the Aggies fired Jimbo Fisher.
Wiggins picked up a new title during his move. He’ll coach wideouts, just as he did with the Crimson Tide, but he’s also listed as a co-offensive coordinator in College Station.
Joe Cox– Ole Miss
Cox will also remain in the SEC. He’ll coach tight ends under a familiar face at Ole Miss, former Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.
However, Cox won’t see his old team this season. Due to the SEC’s new schedule with Texas and Oklahoma joining the league, Alabama and Ole Miss will not play each other in 2024.
Freddie Roach– Alabama
Roach was one of two coaches who DeBoer retained for the 2024 season. He’ll continue his role as the Crimson Tide’s defensive line coach.
He joined Saban’s staff at Alabama before the 2022 season.
Robert Gillespie– Alabama
Gillespie came in to Alabama the same season as Roach. He’ll stay on as well, continuing to coach the Crimson Tide’s running backs.
Among other stops, Gillespie coached at North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia before coming to Tuscaloosa.
Travaris Robinson– Georgia
One of the key parts of Alabama’s defensive staff, DeBoer reportedly attempted to retain Robinson as his defensive coordinator. The effort was unsuccessful, and Robinson, who coached Alabama’s cornerbacks, headed off to Georgia.
He picked up a co-defensive coordinator job in Athens.
Eric Wolford– Kentucky
Maybe you can go home again. When Wolford left Kentucky to come coach the offensive line Alabama, Wildcats coach Mark Stoops was publicly angry.
However, the two seemingly managed to patch up their differences. Wolford returned to his old role as Kentucky’s offensive line coach.
Robert Bala– Western Michigan
Bala coached inside linebackers for Saban. He was announced as Western Michigan’s new defensive coordinator on Thursday.
He had joined the Crimson Tide for the 2023 season.
Coleman Hutzler– Mississippi State
Hutzler’s departure had been finalized before the 2023 season came to an end. He’s now the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State under new head coach Jeff Lebby.
He had coached outside linebacker at Alabama and also served as the special teams coordinator.
Welcome to BamaCentral’s “Just a Minute,” a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI’s beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.
Watch the above video as BamaCentral baseball beat reporter Theodore Fernandez reflects on the first two months of Alabama baseball’s season and explains why the team has left much to be desired despite success on the field.
At face value, this has been a successful campaign for Alabama baseball. Entering the final four weeks of the regular season, a Crimson Tide team that was projected to finish No. 13 in the SEC is 9-9 in conference play, and just one game out of fourth place. The first sweep of Auburn in more than a decade, the Frisco Classic title, and a road series win over Oklahoma are big-time results that speak to the potential Alabama clearly possesses.
But it continues to appear increasingly likely that this team may not realize that potential.
There are issues up and down the roster. The bulk of the attention has been on Justin Lebron’s struggles. His career-high in errors and underwhelming offensive numbers have led to his draft stock beginning to fall, and it led to him even being experimentally moved out of the two-hole for a game against Arkansas.
Players like Luke Vaughn and Jason Torres have struggled, and there is still a significant amount of regular roster experimentation occurring on a week-to-week basis. Will Plattner, Justin Osterhouse, Chase Kroberger, Andrew Purdy and Peyton Steele are all among the players who have started games over the past two weekends and still appear to have undefined roles.
The biggest question remains the bullpen, as it is nearly impossible to predict what it will provide on any given day. There was a two-weekend stretch where it gave up just five earned runs over 22.1 combined innings against Auburn and Oklahoma, willing Alabama to wins in games where the bats did not show up. Then there have been the lows: implosions against Arkansas and Texas that cast serious doubt on the unit’s ability to show up in big moments.
In all of those areas where the team has struggled, there is hope of a turnaround. There are the bullpen’s aforementioned elite stretches. There are the web-gem plays in short by Lebron, that will leave him with one of the most impressive defensive highlight reels of any player in the nation. There’s Torres responding to a 1-for-12 weekend against the Razorbacks with a two-hit game where he drove in one of Alabama’s two runs to avoid a sweep against Texas last Sunday.
In a sport defined by randomness, where the thinnest of margins can mean the difference between going home in a regional or making a run to Omaha, we simply have no way of knowing where Alabama will land.
Would we really expect it any other way?
That’s baseball.
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A “joyful” 10-year-old Alabama girl was found dead soon after being reported missing — with another juvenile charged with her murder.
Katheryn Bigbee, 10, was reported missing just before 11 p.m. Friday, when police were called to an undisclosed address in Calhoun County, AL.com reported.
“Officers responded immediately to the residence,” Piedmont Police Chief Nathan Johnson said in a statement. “They tragically discovered a deceased juvenile inside the home.”
It remains unclear where the house was, or whether it was the young girl’s family home — but another juvenile was soon taken into custody and hit with murder charges.
Their identity and connection to Bigbee have not been disclosed due to their age.
Bigbee’s cause of death also remains unclear, with police saying the investigation was still ongoing.
“Our family has been torn to pieces, and we have lost the most amazing, sweetest little girl,” relative Blake Trammel wrote on Facebook.
“She was a light in any room she walked into. I cannot express the pain, guilt, and emptiness that has come from all of this. We don’t have answers, only more questions,” he added.
The girl’s school also recalled her as a beloved member of its community.
“Our entire Piedmont Elementary School family is grieving as we remember a sweet little girl who brought smiles, kindness, and a bright light to our halls each day,” the school said in a statement.
“Katheryn had a joyful, spunky personality that made her truly special,” the school said. “She was an enthusiastic reader and will be remembered for the happiness she shared so freely.”
“She will always be a part of our school family, and her memory will live on in the hearts of her classmates, teachers, and all who knew and loved her.”
Alabama AHSAA softball key dates and top teams approaching the 2026 playoffs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Alabama’s AHSAA softball playoffs are just around the corner with three of the state’s top teams ranked in the national Top 15.
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The No. 5 Orange Beach [AL] Makos, No. 10 Thompson [Alabaster, AL] Warriors, and No. 15 Wetumpka [AL] Indians are all ranked in the most recent edition of the MaxPreps Top 50 with the start of Alabama’s postseason less than two weeks away.
Orange Beach was previously ranked No. 1 before losing to the South Warren [Bowling Green, KY] Spartans last week. Both teams were undefeated going into the contest, and the Barbers Hill [Mt. Belvieu, TX] Eagles took the Makos’ place at the top of the rankings following the loss.
WATCH: ALABAMA AHSAA SOFTBALL ON THE NFHS NETWORK
Key dates for the Alabama AHSAA softball playoffs
|
DATE |
PLAYOFF DEADLINES |
|
5/1-5/26 |
Area Tournaments |
|
5/11-14/26 |
Regional Tournaments |
|
5/18-22/26 |
State Tournaments |
National Top 50 contenders by classification
Alabama’s three nationally-ranked teams all compete in different classifications.
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Class 7A
The Thompson Warriors are 34-1-2, and they compete in the AHSAA’s top-level Class 7A ranks. The team’s only loss is to the No. 15 Wetumpka Indians in a 3-2 setback on April 3.
Class 6A
Wetumpka is 34-5, and as noted above, they are the only team to beat Thompson so far.
Class 4A
Orange Beach is the state’s top-ranked team despite competing at the AHSAA’s Class 4A level. Their loss to South Warren of Kentucky in a 6-1 setback on April 9 ended a 45-game win streak at the time. The Makos had only allowed 25 runs all season prior to the relative outburst by the Spartans.
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