Alabama Football: Saban reported to have filled D-Line coach vacancy
By Ronald Evans
Multiple media outlets have reported Alabama football has a new defensive line coach, Craig Kuligowski. Kuligowski resigned from the Miami Hurricanes Monday.
Karl Dunbar quickly left Alabama football after Signing Day, opting for a return to the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. With no recruiting cycle pressure, Nick Saban has taken his time in choosing a replacement for Dunbar.
Monday night reports surfaced, first from Bruce Feldman, that Craig Kuligowski is Saban’s choice. Craig Kuligowski has been the defensive line and assistant head coach at Miami for two seasons. Before being hired by Mark Richt, he was the defensive line coach at Missouri for 15 seasons. Kuligowski also played for Nick Saban at Toledo.
SOURCE: Craig Kuligowski Leaving #Miami, Expected to Become #Alabama's new DL Coach: https://t.co/U6PHBumtRQ
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 20, 2018
The Miami Hurricanes announced late Monday that Kuligowski was leaving the program to pursue other opportunities. Recently he was under consideration by the Tampa Bay Bucs but not hired. ESPN’s Booger McFarland gave Kuligowski a strong endorsement in the tweet below.
Buckner will be fine , but golden opportunity missed to hire the best D line coach in College Football Couch Kuligowski of the Miami Hurricanes https://t.co/OCxyyT4CWC
— Booger (@ESPNBooger) February 19, 2018
Another strong endorsement came from Cole Cubelic,
Not that Bama needs it would be it’s a MASSIVE hire. He’s an amazing coach. @LetsMeetAtTheQB is one of the best in college football. That group will improve rapidly. https://t.co/8nBKxl5Qyf
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) February 20, 2018
Kuligowski is known as a top developer of talent
In 2014, Football Scoop named Kuligowski the Defensive Line Coach of the Year. While Kuligowski is highly respected as a coach, he is not universally known as a strong recruiter. As reported by Bama Online,
"While there is no question that Kuligowski has been an excellent developer of talent at Miami, he did struggle to close on the recruiting trail for the Hurricanes. Miami signed just two defensive linemen in the 2018 class in three star defensive end Gregory Rousseau and four-star defensive tackle Nesta Silvera. The Hurricanes were looking to land at least three defensive tackles in the 2018 class, but UM was unable to close on their top targets outside of Silvera."
Considering Nick Saban has recently added multiple young assistants highly respected for recruiting ability, perhaps Nick opted for another top-notch defensive line coach. Very much like Karl Dunbar, Kuligowski is known for an ability to develop players.
Although not officially announced it has been widely reported Tide assistant Tosh Lupoi will be the next Defensive Coordinator and play-caller. Lupoi was listed as Co-Defensive Coordinator with Jeremy Pruitt this past season. Lupoi has been a Crimson Tide linebacker coach for three seasons after one year as a defensive analyst. Prior to joining the Alabama football staff, Lupoi coached the defensive line at Washington.
There had been some conjecture Lupoi wanted to be the defensive line position coach as well as defensive coordinator. The reported Kuligowski hire indicates Lupoi will continue to coach the Alabama football linebackers.
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No announcement has been made by Alabama football. Nick Saban does not make staff decisions public on any schedule but his own.