Nick Saban’s regular offseason re-tooling of his coaching staff added another piece on Thursday as Alabama confirmed the hire of Karl Scott to serve as the Crimson Tide’s new secondary coach.
“I have an incredible amount of appreciation for The University of Alabama and the program Coach Saban has built in Tuscaloosa,” Scott said in a statement. “I am very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this coaching staff because as a defensive coach, it doesn’t get any better than working for Coach Saban. I look forward to doing my part to help continue the success this program has enjoyed.”
“We are excited to announce the addition of Karl Scott to our defensive staff,” Saban added. “He is a bright, young football coach who boasts a lot of experience coaching the secondary. He does an excellent job in terms of teaching the players, and he is someone we believe will be a tremendous asset in recruiting.”
Scott spent the past two seasons coaching the same group at Texas Tech but was hired last month by new Louisiana-Lafayette coach Billy Napier to serve as defensive coordinator. It’s not often you see guys give up on being a coordinator but the allure of working at Alabama with Saban (a noted defensive backs coaching savant) was too much to pass up it seems.
The move to the SEC represents a big jump up in competition for Scott, who has previous stops at Louisiana Tech and Southeastern Louisiana among others. He played a big role in turning around the Red Raiders’ pass defense the past year and will have his work cut out for him in Tuscaloosa with four new starters likely taking the field in 2018 for the defending champs.