Casagrande: DeBoer has his Robin back, can Ryan Grubb make it work at Alabama?
This is an opinion column.
Ryan Grubb’s been here before.
Three years.
Three Alabama offensive coordinator job offers.
Two accepted.
Will this one stick?
The assistant coach pursued by Nick Saban two years ago reportedly turned down an offer for the opportunity to be his final offensive coordinator in 2023. It was one of those eyebrow-raising moments that spoke to where we stood on the timeline — and perhaps foreshadowing how close the Saban era was to its end.
But Grubb was sticking with the head coach with whom he’d through the ranks from the back roads of Sioux Falls to the pinnacle of the college game. He was a Kalen DeBoer guy, enough so to follow him to Tuscaloosa last January to accept the gig he rebuffed a year earlier.
That didn’t last long, though.
A few weeks after making the move east, he did the Homer Simpson’s dad meme and did a U-turn for Seattle.
Again, he had an offer better than the Alabama offensive coordinator’s position. He was off to the NFL and that same job with the Seahawks. That wasn’t without precedent since Steve Sarkisian famously spent just a few weeks as Alabama’s OC in 2017 before the Falcons scooped him for the same job.
Like Sarkisian in Atlanta, Grubb was fired after an NFL cup of coffee.
And, also like Sark, he came on back to Tuscaloosa after getting dumped in the big leagues.
It worked quite well for the last guy.
And while we won’t pretend Grubb is stepping into an offense as star-studded as the one Sarkisian found in 2019, he has an opportunity to do something rare. It’s been a while since an Alabama offense truly limped to the finish line of a season so he has a shot at a mini-rehab of both his reputation and the Tide offense.
You know, if he sticks around this time.
The headlines in a vacuum are encouraging for Alabama fans given the track record Grubb has with DeBoer. They haven’t done much failing when they’ve worked together.
And that’s notable because DeBoer’s offense did some failing last year when they were apart. Nick Sheridan, the fill-in OC when Grubb opted out, presided over an offense that peaked and valleyed in spectacular fashion.
Sheridan isn’t getting completely dumped after being thrown into a difficult situation where everyone knew he wasn’t the original pick to lead that Crimson Tide offense through the year of transition. He’s reportedly remaining on staff after being praised as the hero after Alabama ran all over LSU then was among those blamed for the disaster at Oklahoma.
The inconsistencies were unmistakable — not entirely on Sheridan — but DeBoer couldn’t pass on an opportunity to reunite with Grubb in the bid to regain the momentum that melted faster than Gulf Coast snow.
Questions remain as DeBoer, Take 2 takes shape. Sheridan’s contract calls for him to make $1.45 million in 2025 and $1.55 million next year — a healthy sum for a non-coordinator as the revenue-sharing era begins. He’s also a DeBoer guy who you didn’t think would be shoved to the side when Grubb came riding back into town. They’d been together at Indiana, Washington and now Alabama and since Sheridan continued to recruit on the road with DeBoer, it didn’t feel like a breakup was impending.
But the move was smart.
Fair or not, DeBoer’s already getting the cigarette lighter sparking under his desk chair so bold moves go a long way to showing that four-loss season isn’t the new normal.
Grubb’s got an interesting depth chart waiting for him upon his return.
A talented receiver room headlined by Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard (who he had at Washington) and Miami transfer Isaiah Horton is in need of a passer to distribute the ball. He’ll get to pick from the group that includes Ty Simpson, Austin Mack (who he knows from his Washington days) and five-star freshman Keelon Russell.
This is a derby of the Saban recruit who stuck it out, the transfer DeBoer recruited to Washington and the highest-rated Alabama recruit ever (but a true freshman).
Either way, this Sunday night move steps up the offensive expectation meter that closed 2024 in its porcelain counterpart.
Maybe the third time’s the charm for Grubb at Alabama.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
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