Alabama Football: Best-Ever Nick Saban Assistant Coaches
By Ronald Evans
Alabama Football Assistant: Outside Linebackers
The Nominees: Lance Thompson (2007-2008 and 2012-2014); James Willis (2009); Sal Sunseri (2010-2011) and Tosh Lupoi (2015-2017)
So Tosh Lupoi didn’t make that great of a defensive coordinator. Doesn’t take away from the fact that he was a stellar position coach and the outside linebackers at Alabama were never more disruptive than they were under Lupoi’s tutelage.
Granted, the Crimson Tide defense was adapting some principles by getting more “quick-twitch” players to rush the fleet-footed quarterbacks of today, but Lupoi’s bottomless energy was a major upgrade to the position. As a west coast guy, his positive demeanor during practice was the perfect foil to Saban’s grumpy old man routine. The only evidence you need of the players’ love for Lupoi is in the stats.
In the four years prior to Lupoi’s arrival, Tide OLBs tallied 41 sacks. In the four years Lupoi was coach, the OLBs tallied 52.5. Lest we forget about the utter chaos that guys like Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams caused in their final two years with Lupoi as their teacher. In 2015 and 2016, those two combined for 33 sacks. They were monsters on defenses with plenty.
To boot, if we had to name three or four of Saban’s best recruiters at Alabama, Lupoi may well be at the top. It wasn’t that he just nabbed the west coast guys like Tua Tagovailoa and Najee Harris, he got commitments from Southerners like Dylan Moses and east coast athletes like Trevon Diggs. Lupoi was the closer for Nick Saban.
He was a trusted member of Saban’s staff, too. He wasn’t a great coordinator (it takes a lot to be one), but the duties he was entrusted to execute, he was terrific at and no one should ever forget it.
Honorable Mention: Sal Sunseri