Alumni Gazette

Brian Daboll ’97 is going from one football powerhouse to another.

Coming off the 2016 NFL season as an assistant coach for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, Daboll will begin the 2017 season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, winner of four national championships since 2009.

With nearly two decades of college and professional coaching experience, including 10 seasons and 5 Super Bowl titles with the Patriots, Daboll is rejoining a staff led by Alabama head coach Nick Saban. The two first met in 1998 at Michigan State, where Saban was head coach and Daboll was a graduate assistant.

An economics major at Rochester, Daboll played two seasons for the Yellowjackets as a starter at safety. His playing career ended in the 1995 season finale with a helmet-to-helmet collision. Doctors advised him to quit to prevent possible damage to nerves in his shoulders and spine. He spent his senior season as a student assistant before embarking on a coaching career.

Daboll “brings a tremendous work ethic to the job and has a wealth of football knowledge,” Saban said in a statement. “Brian is a great teacher of the game, and someone who can relate well to our players.”

—Jim Mandelaro