Alosi tripped Carroll on Dec. 13, 2010.Sal Alosi, the former New York Jets assistant coach who resigned in 2010 after intentionally tripping an opponent, is returning to the sidelines. He will join former NFL coach Jim Mora at UCLA, serving as the team's coordinator of strength and conditioning.
During a Jets' punt return in a December 2010 game, Alosi stood with his feet spread widely on the sideline in an obvious attempt to trip Miami Dolphins' special teamer Nolan Carroll. The incident was caught on camera, a national furor erupted and Alosi briefly became the NFL's public enemy No. 1.
He was later suspended without pay for the team's remaining three regular-season games and assessed a fine of $25,000. The team was fined $100,000 by the league for the "competitive violation."
Alosi resigned after the season.
He'll return to football as part of Mora's new staff at UCLA. Alosi previously worked with the former Atlanta Falcons coach during the 2006 NFL season, the lone year of his career that wasn't spent with the Jets.
New UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone was a colleague of Alosi's in New York.
That Alosi is getting his second chance at a college, where coaches are supposed to be molding young men (at least in theory), may come as a surprise to some. It shouldn't. He paid for his act, and then some, and deserves a fresh start.
An old quote from Mora sheds some light on why he may want Alosi. While he was coaching the Seattle Seahawks, Mora said he wanted "dirtbags" on his team. When pressed, he explained what he meant:
"I mean it in a way that the guy just lives and breathes football. I've just gotta win, I've gotta knock someone down. I want to put someone on their butt every single play. That's what I mean by dirtbag. I don't mean a guy that goes out and drinks and drives and speeds or is bad to women or treats people poorly. You understand what I'm saying. I'm talking about in the confines of those six seconds between the snap and the whistle is a dirtbag."
By that definition, Sal Alosi fits the bill.
The guy made a mistake, paid the price for a year and is getting a second chance.
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