UAB expected to hire Trent Dilfer: Super Bowl-winning QB is surprise target for Blazers lead, reports say

uab Former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer is expected to be named as his next coach, according to multiple reports. Dilfer recently completed his fourth season as the head coach of Lipscomb Academy, a private high school in Nashville, Tennessee, which has amassed a 38-8 record under him.

Dilfer played 14 years in the NFL for five different franchises from 1994 to 2007. He won a Super Bowl title for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and earned a Pro Bowl nod while leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1997. Prior to the NFL, Dilfer earned the Sammy Baugh Trophy as best passer in America after throwing for 3,799 yards, 30 touchdowns, and five interceptions as a signal caller at Fresno State.

After retiring from the NFL, Dilfer moved into the media as an analyst for ESPN and Fox. He is also deeply involved in the annual Elite 11 linebackers competition, which brings together the best high school recruits in the country each year.

While the Lipscomb Academy is a highly competitive team that develops several FCS opportunities, Dilfer doesn’t have any coaching experience at the collegiate level. In fact, his four-year tenure at Lipscomb is his only experience coaching an organized football team at any level.

Dilfer worked closely with the players as a quarterbacks coach but only as an individual coach. If Dilfer gets the UAB job, Dylan Hopkins’ rookie persuasion for two years and Baylor Transferring Jacob Zeno to stay out of the transfer gate would give him a talented group of signal callers he could work with in the first year.

Dilfer received criticism In 2021, after a video clip of him pushing a player went viral. Later he apologized for the incident. FootballScoop first reported that he and UAB are discussing the situation.

If Dilfer is hired, he will stand in for a strict contract with Bill Clark, UAB’s last full-time head coach. before joining South Alabama As defensive coordinator in 2008, Clark had 18 years of experience coaching high school football across Alabama and Georgia.

Clark went 11-4 in one season Jacksonville State In 2013 before being hired at UAB, where he led the Blazers to a 6-6 record before the program closed. Clark then led an effort to revive UAB football, which was successful with the program’s reinstatement in 2017. Despite needing to rebuild almost the entire program, Clark has led the Blazers to five straight seasons and Conference USA championships (2018, 2020). He was also a two-time recipient of CBS Sports Coach of the Year and Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year honors in 2018.

Clark, 54 years old He resigned before the 2022 season due to back problems. His offensive coordinator, Brian Vincent, took over as interim coach and led UAB to a 6-6 record.

After the season ended, the Blazers players wrote a letter to United Players’ Union president Ray Watts in an attempt to get him to keep Vincent as permanent coach. Watts refused to meet the players for what they presented while searching for training.