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Kalen DeBoer asked about potentially adding Ryan Grubb to Alabama staff
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Kalen DeBoer was at the Senior Bowl on Tuesday when he was asked a question that had nothing to do with players and everything to do with his coaching staff at Alabama.
Specifically, it had to do with Ryan Grubb, whose coaching career has largely paralleled DeBoer’s. Grubb coached under DeBoer going back to 2007 at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota. That was only the start of their coaching connection, as Grubb and DeBoer were on the staff together at Eastern Michigan from 2014-16.
Then Grubb again coached under DeBoer at Fresno State in 2020 and 2021 before the pair reunited yet again at Washington, where Grubb once again coached under DeBoer in 2022 and 2023. But in 2024, their paths finally went in different directions when DeBoer replaced Nick Saban as the head coach at Alabama and Grubb took the offensive coordinator position with the Seattle Seahawks.
But Grubb only lasted 1 season in Seattle, and now the 48-year-old is a coaching free agent, so to speak. Which brings us back to DeBoer and Tuesday at the Senior Bowl, where he was asked whether there had been any consideration to adding Grubb to his coaching staff.
DeBoer didn’t commit to anything but also didn’t discount the possibility of yet another reunion, talking about their shared history and how “I think the world of him as a coach.” DeBoer also told reporters that Grubb is “working through his process.”
“Gotta see what he does. And I’m here for him whenever he needs me. That’s always going to be the case,” said DeBoer.
Time will tell if there is indeed another reunion between the coaches in Tuscaloosa in 2025.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
