Another recently unemployed former NFL head coach could be heading to join Nick Saban’s coaching staff at Alabama.
According to Cole Cubelic of WJOX 94.5 FM and the SEC Network, former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone is a “serious candidate” to join Saban’s staff as the offensive line coach for the Crimson Tide.
Former Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien joined the Alabama staff last week as their new offensive coordinator.
Marrone is coming off a six-year stint with the Jaguars where he spent the last four full seasons as the team’s head coach. He took over on an interim basis in 2016 after the team fired Gus Bradley as head coach during the season. The Jaguars fired Marrone after the season and hired Urban Meyer as their new head coach.
The line job for Alabama is open after Kyle Flood followed Steve Sarkisian to work at the University of Texans.
Marrone and O’Brien could be the next in line to use a spot on Saban’s staff as a chance to bounce back from their previous positions. Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin are a couple of the high-profile college coaches that have used the opportunity of working at Alabama to springboard into new head coaching chances.
Marrone last coached in college as the head coach at Syracuse from 2009-12 before getting the head coaching job with the Buffalo Bills in 2013.