Nick Saban discusses new role for former OLB coach Sal Sunseri on Alabama staff
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Sal Sunseri had served as Alabama’s outside linebackers coach for 3 seasons, guiding the development of players like Anfernee Jennings, Christopher Allen, and Will Anderson Jr.
However, the hiring of Coleman Hutzler as both special teams coordinator and OLB coach led to questions about what Sunseri’s role would be moving forward. During his National Signing Day press conference, Nick Saban on Wednesday revealed that Sunseri would shift his responsibilities to be a “special assistant” to Saban on the Crimson Tide staff to help evaluate players within the transfer portal.
“Whether it’s the portal, having people on top of the portal, you almost need a staff of people just like you have a staff of people for recruiting to find out who the best players in high schools are,” Saban said. “You also have to have people responsible to do evaluations in terms of who’s getting in the portal…
“[I]t’d be interesting to see how many people really benefit in a positive way from taking advantage of the opportunity to get in the portal, and we’re (going to) track those kinds of things and Sal’s (going to) be involved in a lot of those things.”
A coach since 1985, Sunseri was originally on the Crimson Tide staff from 2009-2011 as assistant head coach and linebackers coach. He also served 2 stints in the NFL, first as the defensive line coach for Carolina (2002-2008) and later as linebackers coach in Oakland (2015-2017).
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
