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First reported by ESPN and also reported by AL.com, the Tide will hire New England Patriots tight ends coach Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator.
Alabama was looking for a new offensive coordinator after Sarkisian went to the NFL himself to become the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons. Sarkisian, who served as an offensive analyst for the 2016 season, was Alabama’s offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide’s national championship loss to Clemson.
The title game was Sarkisian’s only game as OC. He was promoted to the position a week before the game after Lane Kiffin departed full-time for Florida Atlantic. Kiffin originally committed to stay on through the end of the year as Alabama’s offensive coordinator after being named FAU’s coach but left after Alabama’s College Football Playoff semifinal win over Washington.
Daboll worked with Alabama coach Nick Saban as a graduate assistant while Saban was the head coach at Michigan State. He’s coached New England’s tight ends for the past four seasons and hasn’t coached in college since his two years at Michigan State in 1998 and 1999.
He last served as an offensive coordinator in 2012 when he held that position for the Kansas City Chiefs for a season after being the Miami Dolphins’ offensive coordinator in 2011. At Alabama, he inherits an offense that returns its starting quarterback (Jalen Hurts), a star running back (Bo Scarbrough) and its leading receiver (Calvin Ridley). It won’t be a shock at all to see Alabama begin the 2017 as the consensus No. 1 team in the country.
Kiffin, the former USC, Oakland Raiders and Tennessee coach, was hired as Alabama’s offensive coordinator before the 2014 season.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @NickBromberg