Pete Golding is out as Alabama’s defensive coordinator after five seasons.
He came in 2018 and spent the last four years as the Crimson Tide’s primary defensive play-caller, but now he’s headed to the University of Mississippi. The 37-year-old will have the same role under Lane Kiffin as he carries two Southeastern Conference Championships (2020 and 2021) and a College Football Playoff National Championship (2020) to Oxford, Miss.
Golding’s departure has Tide fans interested in who will be the one Nick Saban brings in to restore the defensive unit to its toughness, physicality, and dominance across the board.
Four names have emerged as candidates for the role.
Glenn Schumann
Glenn Schumann is celebrating his sixth national championship (BCS and CFP era) and second for the University of Georgia.
The 32-year-old has been a technician behind a fearful Georgia defense in the last two years. Schumman’s game-planning, strategies, and schemes produced a group that allowed 10.2 points per game in 2021 and 14.3 points per game last season.
Schumann, a native Georgian, is a University of Alabama alum.
He enrolled at Alabama in 2008 as a student assistant/graduate assistant to learn from Coach Saban.
He served in that role from 2008 to 2014, helping the program win three BCS National Championships in 2009, 2011, and 2012. Schumann became the director of football operations for the Tide from 2014 to 2015, assisting Alabama to a College Football Playoff National Championship in 2015. He is very familiar with Saban’s process and how it’s done.
Schumann also doubles as an inside linebackers coach for Georgia.
Saban would return one of the original members of his championship run with Schumann.
Close sources have confirmed to Touchdown Alabama Magazine that Schumann is the top name the Tide is after to be the defensive coordinator.
Jim Leonhard
Jim Leonhard is the interim head coach at the University of Wisconsin.
As a player, he walked on to the team in 2001 and did not receive a scholarship until his senior season in 2004. Leonhard became one of the greatest defensive backs in Badgers history, earning three All-American honors (2002, 2003, and 2004) and three first-team All-Big Ten honors from 2002 to 2004. He recorded 21 career interceptions, tying him for the most in school history.
Leonhard started his coaching career at his Alma mater in 2016 after spending time in the National Football League. He began as a defensive backs coach, but he quickly moved up to defensive coordinator. Leonard called the plays from 2017 to 2022, producing a defense that allowed under 20 points per game in 2017 (13.9), 2019 (16.9), 2020 (17.4), and 2021 (16.2).
He coached the Badgers’ defense to two 10+ win seasons in 2017 and 2019.
Jeremy Pruitt
Jeremy Pruitt is the most popular choice among Alabama fans to return as defensive coordinator.
As an Alabama native, he is well respected in high schools across the state. Pruitt got his start with the Crimson Tide as its director of player development from 2007 to 2009. He advanced to defensive backs coach from 2010 to 2012 and then returned in 2016 as defensive coordinator.
Pruitt assisted the Tide to four national championships.
He coordinated the most entertaining Alabama defense in 2016. Alabama produced 54 sacks, 118 tackles for loss, 80 quarterback hurries, 17 forced fumbles, 16 interceptions, eight fumble returns, and 11 touchdowns. The players loved and respected him during his tenure in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Things did not work for Pruitt at Tennessee (2018-20) as a head coach.
Recruiting violations got him terminated, and he spent one season with the New York Giants as a senior defensive analyst.
Rumors have sparked about him being cleared by the Southeastern Conference to return as a coach. Close sources have confirmed with Touchdown Alabama Magazine that Pruitt has been cleared and is one of the main names the Tide is looking at.
If he is not returned as a defensive coordinator, Pruitt could return as a position coach or analyst.
He started his tenure with safeties as an on-field assistant for the Crimson Tide.
Todd Grantham
Nick Saban loves continuity so he could hire a defensive coordinator from within.
Todd Grantham would be the name if he goes that route.
Grantham, 56, is on Saban’s staff as an off-field defensive analyst. He is one of the most proven coordinators in the sport, running defenses at Georgia, Louisville, Mississippi State, and Florida. Grantham also called the Cleveland Browns’ defense for three years from 2005 to 2007. Most of the teams Grantham coached specialized in sacking quarterbacks and forcing turnovers.
Alabama is also looking to add an inside linebackers coach to its staff. Austin Armstrong, a defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach for Southern Mississippi, is the name Alabama has targeted.
Armstrong is being looked at for inside linebackers coach. He could also coach safeties.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
