The NFL analyst coaching pipeline is strong.
Former ESPN talking head Jeff Saturday was a surprise hiring for the Colts, landing the job with Indianapolis despite having no collegiate or NFL coaching experience.
Following in his footsteps is former ESPN football analyst Trent Dilfer, who reportedly landed the head coaching gig at the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Monday.
Sources: Trent Dilfer is expected to become the next head coach at UAB. A deal hasn’t been formalized, but the sides are likely to come to terms in the upcoming days.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 30, 2022
MORE: College football coaching carousel — Every FBS change in 2022
Dilfer isn't exactly a slouch, either: He has an .807 winning percentage as a high school coach, certainly paving way for being potentially good at the next level.
Plus, when you have an opportunity to hire a Super Bowl-winning quarterback as your head coach, you just gotta do it.
Trent Dilfer coaching experience
While he hasn't coached at the collegiate level, Dilfer has coached high school for the last four years at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tenn.
Since 2019, the Dilfer-coached Mustangs have gone 42-10 overall, going to two state championship games (2020, 2021) and winning one last season.
Here's the year-by-year record for Dilfer's Mustangs:
| Year | Record (Overall) | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 7-5 | None |
| 2020 | 11-3 | Lost state championship. |
| 2021 | 12-1 | Won state championship. |
| 2022 | 12-0 | In state championship (Dec.1) |
In addition to coaching the Mustangs, Dilfer is also the coach of the Elite 11, a competition for the top high school quarterbacks. That gives Dilfer something of a leg up when it comes QB recruiting, though it's unclear if he'll have to leave Elite 11 responsibilities behind should he join UAB.
If Dilfer's high school coaching sounds familiar to you, that's because he made headlines for losing his cool and shoving a player on the sidelines in 2021. He would later apologize for the incident.
Dilfer spent a decade with ESPN, joining the network in 2007 before being eventually let go in 2017. He would join FS1 in a limited capacity soon after.
