![Kalen DeBoer 092924](https://sportminded.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Kalen-DeBoer-092924.jpg)
Alabama officially announces hire of Ryan Grubb as offensive coordinator
Alabama officially announced the hire of Ryan Grubb as its new offensive coordinator on Thursday.
News of Grubb’s return to Kalen DeBoer’s staff first broke last Sunday, and it was immediately met with applause. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban tried to lure Grubb to Tuscaloosa prior to the 2023 season, but Grubb opted to remain at Washington and help lead a charge to the College Football Playoff National Championship game. After Kalen DeBoer replaced Saban at Alabama, Grubb was once again a target for the Crimson Tide’s OC position, but he instead took a job with the Seattle Seahawks.
After a year apart, Grubb and DeBoer are getting back together.
“Ryan Grubb has been someone that I have trusted for a long time and adding him to our staff only improves the quality of coaches we have here at Alabama,” DeBoer said in a release from the school. “He is one of the best offensive minds in the country, and I can’t wait to see what he brings to our organization moving forward.”
Grubb was the run game coordinator and offensive line coach for DeBoer at Sioux Falls when they won NAIA national championships together. They worked together at Eastern Michigan from 2014-16 and then at Fresno State in 2017 and 2018.
When DeBoer left the Bulldogs to join Indiana prior to the 2019 season, Grubb stayed at Fresno State and replaced DeBoer as the offensive coordinator. When DeBoer returned to Fresno as the head coach in 2020, Grubb stayed on as DeBoer’s coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He then followed him to Washington in 2022.
DeBoer has often said that he and Grubb have a give-and-take relationship when it comes to the offensive side of the football. While DeBoer has made his reputation as an offensive-minded head coach, Grubb has been a key part of the success.
Under Grubb’s tutelage at Washington, the oft-injured Michael Penix Jr. revitalized his career and became a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2023. Penix ended that season top-10 nationally in Total QBR and EPA.
“I’m thankful to get an opportunity to work with Coach DeBoer once again and to be a part of an offensive staff that I am very familiar with,” Grubb said. “I am confident that our staff will be able to put the team in the best position to win each time out. I know and trust that this group of coaches and players will work tirelessly to meet the standard that has been set here at Alabama, and I can’t wait to get out on the field with them.”
Grubb was also the primary recruiter for Washington when it landed Austin Mack out of the 2023 class. The Folsom, California, quarterback was viewed as the quarterback of the future when he joined DeBoer in Seattle. He then followed DeBoer to Alabama prior to the 2024 season.
As Mack battles with Ty Simpson and Keelon Russell for the starting quarterback job this spring and summer, he’ll do so with a coaching staff he’s plenty familiar with.
Alabama is also expected to keep Nick Sheridan and JaMarcus Shephard on staff. Both worked with Grubb at Washington.