UAB fires Trent Dilfer after awful start as polarizing hire backfires

Watch UAB fires Trent Dilfer after awful start as polarizing hire backfires - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Penn State fired his head coach, James Franklin.

00:02Now another big-name head coach has gotten axed.

00:05Trent Dilfer is out at UAB six games into his third season.

00:10And he's a big name because of, obviously, it's Trent Dilfer, Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

00:14So the Blazers decided to cut ties with the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Sunday night

00:20after a 53-33 loss to FAU brought his head coaching record with the program to 9-21.

00:27They're currently 2-4 on the season.

00:30And they lost three straight games by 32, 18, and 20 points.

00:34And only one of their wins came against an FBS opponent.

00:38Now UAB has also the worst defense in college football.

00:43And they're giving up 41.3 points per game.

00:46It was a high risk with no reward hire.

00:50The program decided to follow the trend of outside-the-box hirings of former NFL guys

00:56with no collegiate experience when they hired Dilfer as its head coach in November of 2022.

01:02He had previously coached Lipscomb Academy in Nashville for four years, but that's a high school.

01:09And he did that after his nine-year run with ESPN ended back in 2017 when the company had mass layoffs.

01:17Now FCS Delaware State hired former Eagles wide receiver Deshaun Jackson as its head coach.

01:23And his Hornets have a record of 4-3 with one of the top rushing attacks in FCS.

01:29Now UAB, they're now turning over its program to another individual with ESPN ties.

01:35Former Titans quarterback and Arkansas offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen,

01:39who's also the son of the late ESPN reporting legend Chris Mortensen is being promoted to interim head coach.