Nick Saban adds former NFL head coach Ken Whisenhunt to his Alabama Crimson Tide staff.
By adding Ken Whisenhunt to his Alabama staff, Nick Saban gains a wealth of coaching knowledge inside of his SEC powerhouse program.
Whisenhunt comes to Alabama by way of Penn State, where he had been serving as an offensive analyst for James Franklin. Although he has spent some time at the college level, Whisenhunt is best known for his eight years serving as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals (2007-12) and the Tennessee Titans (2014-15). He will be replacing Drew Svoboda, who just left for North Texas.
It should be noted that Whisenhunt’s son-in-law Zach Mettenberger is an analyst on Saban’s Alabama staff. The former Georgia and LSU quarterback played for Whisenhunt in Nashville after being drafted by the Titans in 2014, briefly following him to the then-San Diego Chargers in 2016.
Let’s discuss what Whisenhunt can bring to the Alabama football team after being at Penn State.
Nick Saban hires Ken Whisenhunt as a special assistant onto his Alabama staff
While the Mettenberger connection is obvious, this may be more about Saban getting another veteran offensive mind into the building. Losing offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien to the New England Patriots this offseason was expected. Although it remains to be seen what Tommy Rees can do coming over from Notre Dame, like Mettenberger, he is in his early 30s as a college coach.
Saban opted to go with a more-known commodity at defensive coordinator by bringing back Kevin Steele to Alabama for a third time. In truth, prying Steele out of Miami may only be a temporary solution, as everybody knows that Saban wanted to re-hire Jeremy Pruitt, but will have to let his legal situation shake itself out first. Clearly, Saban wants a mix of young and old on his Tide staff.
Ultimately, you are looking at Alabama getting a former NFL head coach, one who led the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance to date. He has worked with hall-of-fame signal-callers, whether that be Kurt Warner in Arizona, Philip Rivers in San Diego and Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. Whisenhunt is also a former NFL tight end who was a terrific player at Georgia Tech.
Gaining a wealth of knowledge and coaching experience is a huge pickup for Saban and Alabama.
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