Mortensen Brings Saban Process to UAB as First-Time Head Coach
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- Alex Mortensen was named UAB's permanent head coach in early December after stepping in as interim when Trent Dilfer was fired in October following a 2-4 start to the season.
- Mortensen told CBS Sports that 80-90% of what he witnessed at Alabama can be translated to UAB, but added he's "not going to try to act like him in ways that are phony" — keeping the "timeless" organizational principles while adapting elsewhere.
- The resource divide between the two in-state schools is stark: Alabama spent $82.9 million in operating expenses during 2024-25, while UAB proposed an $11.6 million football operating budget for 2025-26 despite sharing the same university system.
- Mortensen's staff is loaded with Saban expats: defensive coordinator Todd Grantham (who worked for Saban at both Michigan State and Alabama), passing game coordinator Kevin Garver, and run game coordinator Gordon Steele — all former Alabama offensive analysts.
- As interim head coach last season, Mortensen knocked off No. 22 Memphis and won over key constituents during a search that had initially favored candidates with more head-coaching experience, including Ryan Beard and Skip Holtz.
- Mortensen spent nine seasons at Alabama working alongside elite playcallers including Texas's Steve Sarkisian, LSU's Lane Kiffin, Maryland's Mike Locksley, and Boston College's Bill O'Brien, earning a reputation for his special offensive mind.
- Dilfer never put together a winning record in his 2½ seasons at UAB and publicly groused about the program's limited resources — the backdrop Mortensen inherited as he tries to deliver UAB's first winning season since 2022.
Why it matters: UAB hired Mortensen as a first-time head coach after the previous regime (Trent Dilfer) flamed out over complaints about limited resources, and Mortensen must now prove the Saban Process scales to a football budget roughly one-seventh the size of Alabama's — with the program's first winning season since 2022 on the line.
