On Wednesday, UAB officially introduced its new head football coach, former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer.
Dilfer spent 14 seasons in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. After his playing career, he spent time in the broadcasting world. In 2019, he moved into coaching by taking over Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, where he went from 5-5 in his first season to 13-1 in 2021, winning the Division II Class AA State Championship. The team will once again play for the state title this week but Lipscomb Academy said in an email to parents that Dilfer was resigning to take the UAB job on Wednesday.
It’s quite the gamble for the Blazers as Dilfer has no experience coaching or recruiting at a college level, let alone an FBS level. But we also live in the age where Deion Sanders is succeeding at Jackson State without prior college experience and Jeff Saturday is leading the Indianapolis Colts without any coaching experience whatsoever, so who knows anymore?
Dilfer met with the media on Wednesday and offered up some pretty interesting quotes.
Dilfer: "We will learn to recruit at an elite level. I'd be lying if I told you I know how to recruit an elite level. That would be crap. That would be a lie. But we're about to get really good at it. I'll hire people that have been great at it."
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) November 30, 2022
Dilfer: "Anybody can give this press conference. I did this on TV, saw people win the press conference and I'm like, 'That guy doesn't know squat.' The proof is in the pudding. I'm going to get here and get my hands dirty."
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) November 30, 2022
“I am a high school coach and I’m not ashamed of that,” said Dilfer. “I like big climbs. I like looking up and people saying you’re not getting up there.
“We will learn to recruit at an elite level. I’d be lying if I told you I know how to recruit an elite level. That would be crap. That would be a lie. But we’re about to get really good at it. I’ll hire people that have been great at it.
“I will hire people who have figure-it-out-ness. I want people that figure stuff out. I’ve figured out a lot about recruiting through Elite 11 and The Opening.
“Anybody can give this press conference. I did this on TV, saw people win the press conference and I’m like, ‘That guy doesn’t know squat.’ The proof is in the pudding. I’m going to get here and get my hands dirty.”
Those are certainly some interesting quotes for a new head coach to offer up and the college football world had some thoughts on them.
Hey, intuition is great, but if we want to be successful here, we need figtuition https://t.co/yL2uLe4qOA
— Steven 🇵🇸 (@akulawolf) November 30, 2022
I like this term. He coined it, I think, yrs ago in his early @Elite11 days to describe something he felt all elite QBs just had to have in them. "Born w/ it? Can you develop that?" It made for some interesting discussions. He had some dudes who did have it who worked w him tho. https://t.co/zAp8HcO3n0
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 30, 2022
Every quote from Chris’ thread reads like a parody https://t.co/byjeM6n5m6
— Keith Wynne (@Keith_Wynne) November 30, 2022
Great choice! @DilfersDimes is going to be a great college coach and will build a great culture and program! https://t.co/IEWcDWuzEq
— Jon Gordon (@JonGordon11) November 30, 2022
Whether or not this experiment works, it sure looks like we’ll at least get some good press conferences out of it.
