With Cleveland Browns fans questioning the future of HC Kevin Stefanski, college football saw some huge coaching news. Penn State University had fired its head coach, James Franklin. The Big 10 school was picked in preseason polls to become one of the final 12 schools that would compete for the National Championship, as they opened at a #2 ranking initially. Instead, Penn State fell to 3-3-0 and 0-3 within the conference.
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Last season, Penn State finished 13-3-0 and lost 45-37 in the Big 10 Championship Game and then 31-14 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Boise State.
Another major college program was in the news regarding its head coach.
Oregon State fired head coach Trent Bray. The Pac-12 school fell to 0-7-0 after losing to Wake Forest at home in front of 29,710 patrons. Just three weeks ago, they were beaten badly by their in-state rival, Oregon, 41-7.
While these two programs hogged the headlines in college football after the air had cleared from this past weekend, one other head coach lost his job. And this one once played for the Cleveland Browns.
The University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) announced that it had released its head coach, Trent Dilfer. Two of the last three games UAB had allowed over 50 points on defense as they began their season 2-4-0 and lost on Saturday 53-33 to Florida Atlantic.
Dilfer was the starting quarterback for the Browns in 2005.
Two weeks ago, UAB lost to #15 Tennessee 56-24.
Dilfer had been the head coach of UAB for three seasons. Before that, he had coached Lipscomb Academy High School in Nashville for four years. During his head coaching history with Lipscomb, the program went to the playoffs all four seasons and won two state championships in Class 3A, and were runners-up another season.
Dilfer parlayed that success to the UAB position beginning in 2023.
UAB won its first game under Dilfer with a 35-6 victory over North Carolina A&T. They finished 4-8-0 in Dilfer’s first season and landed in ninth place in the American Athletic Conference standings. Last year, UAB again won its first game of the season, and then finished with a 3-9-0 record with a mark of 2–6 in conference play, tying for 11th place in the AAC.
This year, they defeated Alabama State 52-42 in the opening game, making this all three years getting Dilfer a win in Week 1.
The issue was an insufficient offense and a lack of consistency in critical moments. The offense was stagnant, which was where Dilfer’s experience excelled. Negative yardage and failure to convert third downs were listed as issues from the university.
UAB had lost 15 straight road games. Dilfer went 9-21-0 with UAB.
Dilfer’s offensive coordinator, Alex Mortensen, was named interim coach. Browns defensive end Alex Wright was drafted out of UAB two years before Dilfer was hired.
Dilfer only played one season for the Browns. He had been the starting...