Ken Whisenhunt, the former head coach of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans, has been hired by Alabama as a special assistant to head coach Nick Saban.

Whisenhunt spent the past two seasons as an analyst at Penn State after coaching for seven different NFL teams from 1997-2019. He has twice been the offensive coordinator of the Chargers (2013, 2016-19) and also served as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator from 2004-06.

Whisenhunt, 60, is the father-in-law of current Alabama analyst and former LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who played for the Titans and Chargers under Whisenhunt. When Alabama hired Mettenberger last year, Saban noted that connection and his own relationship with Whisenhunt.

“Ken and I are really good friends,” Saban said in March 2022.

It is the second stint in the SEC for Whisenhunt, who began his coaching career as a special teams and tight ends coach for Vanderbilt in 1995-96. The Augusta, Georgia native played tight end at Georgia Tech in the early 1980s before a seven-year NFL career.

Whisenhunt replaces Drew Svoboda, who served as a senior special assistant to the head coach last season. Svoboda, who joined Alabama in 2021 as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, left this offseason to serve as North Texas’ special teams coordinator.

Alabama also added another analyst to its football staff, John Aylward, who spent the past two seasons at Notre Dame under new Tide offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. Aylward was listed in 2021 as an offensive analyst for the Irish, and an offensive graduate assistant in 2022.

The Massachusetts native played quarterback for Division II’s St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. His father, Brian, played college football at Brown University in the early 1990s with Bill O’Brien, who later hired John Aylward as an intern to his Houston Texans staff in 2018. Aylward became an offensive assistant working with the Texans’ wide receivers in 2019 and 2020.

O’Brien served as Alabama’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons. He went to the same Massachusetts high school (St. John’s Prep) as former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who hired Aylward in 2021.

In addition to Aylward, Alabama on Wednesday also added John McNulty to its staff directory as an analyst, which was reported by On3 Sports last week. McNulty was Boston College’s offensive coordinator last season and previously was Notre Dame’s tight ends coach under Rees. He also has twice been Rutgers’ offensive coordinator.

Alabama also now lists former safety HaHa Clinton-Dix as its director of player development, a role he revealed in December upon retiring from the NFL.

Here is a look at movement among Alabama’s staff of analysts this offseason:

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.