South Alabama needs a new head coach. Kane Wommack has left for the Alabama defensive coordinator job, as the domino effect from Nick Saban’s retirement continues across the sport.
Wommack was an obvious hire in 2020 as a former successful assistant who came back. He went 22-16 in three seasons as head coach, highlighted by a 10-3 record in 2022. That season and the 7-6 record this year were the two best seasons since USA moved up to FBS in 2012.
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“I deeply appreciate Kane’s service to our program, university and city,” athletic director Joel Erdmann said in a statement. “His efforts propelled us forward and we wish him and (his wife,) Melissa the very best.”
So how good is the South Alabama job? What names could get in the mix? Here are the factors to keep in mind.
The facilities are still basically new
The school and its boosters have put a lot of money into this program. A football operations center was built in 2009, but just in the past few years, the 96,000 square-foot Jaguar Training Center practice field pavilion opened in 2018, and the school opened a new stadium in 2020.
Since their founding, the Jaguars played at old Ladd-Peebles Stadium, 8 miles from campus. The $78 million stadium seats 25,000 and is on campus next to USA’s other football facilities, making it one of the best setups in the Sun Belt. That open-air pavilion also technically qualifies as the largest indoor practice facility in Alabama.
Our new Jaguar Indoor Training Center pic.twitter.com/3LxkPOzIfC
— South Alabama Track & Field / XC 💨 (@SouthAlabamaTXC) August 21, 2018
This is a much better job than the last time it opened
South Alabama hadn’t had a winning season in FBS before Wommack arrived. The school made a change in 2020 because it felt it had tools in place to be a lot better than it was. Wommack proved them right. This is now a place that can win a Sun Belt championship.
USA does have a collective with Jags Impact. Name, image and likeness at the Group of 5 level isn’t roster-changing like it is in the Power 4, but there is a structure in place.
Wommack’s $810,000 salary was in the middle of the Sun Belt, the kind of range that could limit interest from certain Power 4 assistants.
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There is a lot of regional competition in recruiting
The Gulf region is full of Group of 5 schools competing for the same pool of players. Places like Troy, UAB, Southern Miss, Louisiana, ULM and Louisiana Tech all at the G5 level go against South Alabama for players in high school recruiting. The same goes for the transfer portal, for players who might want to return closer to home. It’s a battle for every player.
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All three of Wommack’s recruiting classes finished sixth or seventh in the Sun Belt. The Jaguars haven’t been a top recruiting program since they moved up to FBS.
So what names could get in the mix?
It starts with offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. He’s been there for the last three seasons after two years as an Alabama analyst. This year’s Jaguars offense led the Sun Belt in yards per play, a marked improvement since his arrival. Applewhite also has two years of head-coaching experience, with a 7-5 and 8-5 season at Houston. That was the same number of winning seasons as his successor, Dana Holgorsen. He’s been an offensive coordinator at Alabama and co-offensive coordinator at Texas and he’s been at the Group of 5 level.
Former UAB head coach Bill Clark retired in summer 2022 due to back issues, but some industry sources believe he’s ready to get back in. Clark spent more than a decade as an Alabama high school coach, then worked at South Alabama (2008-12) and Jacksonville State (2013) before becoming UAB head coach. He went 49-26 at UAB with two conference championships, most of that coming after the program was rebuilt from nothing after it was shut down. At South Alabama, the support and resources are in place.
LSU wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton was in the mix the last time this job opened and he was at Georgia. Hankton joined LSU in 2022 after helping Georgia win a national championship, and this year’s LSU receiving group, led by Malik Nabers, helped Jayden Daniels win the Heisman Trophy. The 42-year-old Hankton has also coached at Vanderbilt and Dartmouth.
Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach Tee Martin is a Mobile native who has been in the mix for the South Alabama job in the past. He spent seven years as a USC assistant from 2012 to 2018, and there was some push for him to get the head-coaching job there at the time. He was one of the best recruiters in the country as well. Martin has been with the Ravens since 2021 and is now the position coach for a former NFL MVP, Lamar Jackson. Martin might be focused on moving up in the NFL and sticking with a Ravens team in the playoffs.
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Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee knows the region extremely well. The former Georgia high school coach was a Georgia Southern assistant from 2014 to 2015, including a bowl stint as the interim head coach in 2015, which he won. Since he arrived at Georgia in 2016, the Bulldogs have had one of the strongest rushing attacks in the country, produced backs like Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and D’Andre Swift and won two national championships. The Athletic’s Seth Emerson last year made a case for McGee to get a head-coaching job.
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Former Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has interviewed for Power 4 jobs and likely needs a new gig now as Kalen DeBoer has brought Ryan Grubb with him to Alabama. The 31-year-old Rees spent 2017-22 at Notre Dame, and this was his first job in the Southeast, but he helped develop Jalen Milroe into a dangerous quarterback who beat Georgia in the SEC championship.
Alabama defensive line coach Freddie Roach spent 2013-14 as a South Alabama assistant. He’s an Alabama native who has coached all over the region and was retained by DeBoer for the work he’s done with the Tide since 2020. If Alabama took South Alabama’s coach, could the Jaguars take one back?
Texas A&M associate head coach Trooper Taylor just got to A&M after five years at Duke. He served as the interim head coach for the Birmingham Bowl, and the short-handed Blue Devils beat Troy. Taylor has also coached at Auburn, Tennessee and Oklahoma State and is famous for being a relentless recruiter. He’d bring a lot of energy to Mobile.
Marshall head coach Charles Huff was in the mix the last time this job opened, and his $755,000 salary is slightly below what Wommack made, but going between Sun Belt jobs might be a lateral move not worth making, though his buyout is believed to be less than $1 million. Huff is 22-17 in three seasons at Marshall, highlighted by a 9-4 season last year that included a win at Notre Dame. He spent 2019-20 at Alabama and was one of the best recruiting assistants in the country.
Former Texas A&M wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig is a Mobile native and was South Alabama’s wide receivers coach from 2008 to ’09. He was Auburn’s co-offensive coordinator on the 2013 team that played for the national championship and coached Florida State’s quarterbacks before that, earning ACC recruiter of the year honors.
(Photo: Stephen Lew / USA Today)
