Alabama football nearly hired Ryan Grubb twice before. Both times, the new UA offensive coordinator spurned the Crimson Tide.

Speaking to reporters for the first time in Tuscaloosa, Grubb fielded questions about why he didn’t take the job previously. Even before Kalen DeBoer took over as Alabama’s head coach, Nick Saban tried to hire Grubb from Washington before the 2023 season.

At that time, Grubb foresaw the Huskies eventual national championship run coming, and opted to stay with DeBoer in Seattle.

“That was really hard,” Grubb said. “Obviously respect the heck out of coach Saban. That one was a little bit more, just the guys I had in the locker room at Washington. Mike Penix, the relationship I have with him and Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, Troy Fautanu, those guys all went to the NFL. We knew we were poised for a really big season, I just felt like that would have been pretty hard for me to walk away from those guys.”

DeBoer, Grubb and the Huskies made it to the national title game, falling to Michigan, one game after the Wolverines ended Nick Saban’s career in the Rose Bowl. Following Saban’s retirement, DeBoer took over the Crimson Tide and Grubb initially followed him.

However, after a short stint, he headed back to Seattle, accepting the offensive coordinator job with the NFL’s Seahawks. Grubb said the convenience of staying in the same city factored into his choice to take the gig.

“That was part of it,” Grubb said. “I think there was a lot of factors that went into that decision, but certainly, not having to uproot my family and things like that were part of it, but definitely wasn’t the only factor.”

Grubb spent one year with the Seahawks, but was fired at season’s end. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide offense struggled with consistency in 2024.

Eventually, the chance to become the UA offensive coordinator arose again. This time, Grubb took it for real.

“Third time’s the charm,” Grubb said. “I think there was a lot of factors. Obviously, I felt like there’s a lot of things already in place here. Hats off to the staff, they did a lot of heavy lifting this past year. Just implementing a lot of things that are within the system offensively, being able to come in here and get some things off the ground that guys have already seen.

It felt like I could be an addition to, not necessarily like we have to totally uproot everything that’s going on. Certainly there’s some things that I do that are different, just like everybody, but it just felt like there’s a lot of groundwork laid, that we should have a good opportunity for success.”

Alabama began spring practice on Monday, and continued Wednesday. Spring ball will go through April 12, when the Crimson Tide plays the A-Day game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.