Four former members of the Alabama Crimson Tide will soon be sporting new jewelry. Jarren Reed, Josh Jobe, Robbie Outz and Jalen Milroe play for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. That means an oversized championship ring for each of these former Tide players. The end of the NFL season doesn’t mean football fans will have nothing to do until the Fall. The United Football League starts training camp next week. And the Birmingham Stallions will have a new head coach who may be familiar to fans of the Crimson Tide.
“Oh, I mean, it's been awesome,” said A.J. McCarron. “I've loved every minute of it.”
McCarron won back-to-back championships with the Crimson Tide. Then, he entered the NFL draft and played for the Bengals, Bills, Raiders, Falcons, Texans and the St. Louis Battlehawks of the UFL.
McCarron joins a long list of former quarterbacks making the transition to coaching. Trent Dilfer, who won the 2001 Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, gave a surprising response when asked how smooth the transition was from playing to coaching.
“I don’t think it was smooth at all,” he said. “Actually, I think the one thing I knew was all the things I didn't know, and I went into it as a learner, as much as thinking I had the answers.”
McCarron is still settling into his new job coaching the Stallions. He told reporters he has a very straightforward coaching philosophy for how he wants things done.
“We are going to be a team that practices hard, plays hard,” he said. “We want to be a team that other teams just do not want to face for 60 minutes. They don't have the will, the willpower, the mental toughness, to play us for 60 minutes.”
If anyone can vouch for McCarron as a leader, it’s former Alabama wide receiver Brandon Gibson. He and McCarron were teammates during both of the Crimson Tide’s back-to-back national college football championships.
“He demands greatness out of everybody that he works with,” Gibson said. "And you trust the guy. You trust the guy, because you know that he's going to do everything in his power to deliver the best way possible.”
When asked about McCarron, Dilfer echoed Gibson’s statements.
“His DNA has been wired to be a winner,” Dilfer said. “He was a winner. I mean, he's always been a winner, and his experience in football has done nothing but enhance that.”
Despite this winning pedigree, McCarron still has many who doubt his ability to successfully coach a program like the Stallions. McCarron does not shy away from adversity. In fact, he welcomes it.
“You know, there's always doubters,” he said. “I've always had them. They always fuel my fire. But I think, if anything, how serious we took this draft proves how serious I am and my staff is about this opportunity. It's not something we take lightly. It's not a vacation for us.”
An additional challenge for McCarron this season will be following the legendary Skip Holtz. He won back-to-back-to-back championships in his time in Birmingham and established a new football dynasty in Alabama.
Trent Dilfer reminds the Stallion faithful that championships may not come immediately in this new era.
“I think you have to understand what success is,” he said. “And anytime you're rebuilding a program, it's not always reflected immediately in the win loss record. I think you have to get a core group of players together to buy into something bigger than themselves.”
The Stallions begin training camp on February 23rd. Their season will kick off on March 27th with a road trip to take on the Louisville Kings, a new UFL franchise and their first home game will take place on April 18th versus another UFL newcomer, the Orlando Storm.
