Why Maurice Linguist left job as FBS head coach to be Alabama football assistant
The Alabama football coaching staff that Kalen DeBoer assembled is that he has multiple assistants who left FBS head coaching jobs to join the Crimson Tide.
Co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach Maurice Linguist is one of those. Linguist, speaking for the first time publicly on Wednesday since he departed Buffalo, shed light on his decision to leave a head coaching job for an assistant coaching job.
"Difficult decision," Linguist said. "Anytime you reach an aspiration of running your own program and all the work that you put in, all the years of work that goes into getting to that point that you’re an FBS head coach, I will tell you it was an extremely difficult decision to leave that. I wouldn’t have left it for anything, but when you’ve got a place like Alabama and a head coach like Kalen DeBoer who’s a proven winner and coaches that I know, (general manager) Courtney Morgan and I have a prior relationship, Kane Wommack and I have a prior relationship, things just kept aligning a certain way where it was just tugging at you, tugging at you and it was ultimately like yeah this is the right move."
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Linguist had been at Buffalo from 2021-2023 and had a 7-6 season his second year that resulted in the Bulls winning the Camellia Bowl. He said he saw a dynamic in Group of Five football that was shifting and changing when asked about the evolution of college football with the transfer portal and NIL.
"I had back to back No. 1 recruiting classes in the Mid-American conference, first time in Buffalo history we had ever had No. 1 recruiting classes," Linguist said. "I also had some attrition through the transfer portal through NIL and a number of things. So when those things occur, like anything else in business and the big picture of the landscape, you’re looking at all the moving pieces around Group of Five, Power Five. You’re weighing all factors and trying to make intelligent decisions for your career and who you want to do it with. I got a lot of phone calls before. I’ve turned phone calls down a number of times and a number of years, but again, a place like the University of Alabama, it’s different. I think the industry knows that, we know that and I’m excited to be here."
Linguist certainly wasn't the only head coach at the FBS level to leave their job to become an assistant coach. Chip Kelly left UCLA to become Ohio State's offensive coordinator. Jeff Hafley left Boston College to become the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator. Even on Alabama's own staff, Kane Wommack left South Alabama to become the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Maurice Linguist: Why he left FBS head coach job for Alabama football
