Alabama football is expected to lose another important staffer.
After graduating names such as AJ Milwee, Major Applewhite, Butch Jones, Rob Ezell, Gordon Steele, and Andy Kwon among others to different jobs, Mike Stoops is about to be on the move too. In a report from Pete Thamel, National College football and basketball reporter for Yahoo Sports, Stoops is expected to be hired as the new defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic.
Sources: FAU expected to hire Mike Stoops as defensive coordinator. He’s the former head coach at Arizona and a long-time DC in the Big 12 at Oklahoma and Kansas State. He’d been at Alabama as an analyst the last two seasons.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 28, 2021
Stoops, 59, has been a defensive analyst for the Crimson Tide since 2019.
He helped the program capture a College Football Playoff National Championship last season, and now he has an opportunity to pursue a more impactful role. Stoops has defensive play-calling experience at Kansas State (1996-97) and Oklahoma (1999-03; 2012-18). He was a head coach at the University of Arizona from 2004 to 2011. A two-time national champion in the sport — won at Oklahoma in 2002 — Stoops provided assistance in getting the Tide’s defense to improve in 2020.
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He will now take his talents to coach the Owls in Boca Raton, Fla.
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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
