Report: Alabama to hire Baylor offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic to lead OL
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer reportedly has his new offensive line coach. DeBoer is hiring Chris Kapilovic from Baylor, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Kapilovic is leaving Baylor before ever coaching in a game for the Bears. He was hired in December after spending the previous four years at Michigan State.
Chris Kapilovic was the assistant head coach and run-game coordinator at Michigan State last season, in addition to leading the Spartans offensive line.
Kapilovic is replacing Scott Huff as the Alabama offensive line coach. Huff never coached a game for the Crimson Tide, before leaving the Alabama program to join Ryan Grubb with the Seattle Seahawks.
This is an important hire for Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. The Crimson Tide regularly had an excellent offensive line under Nick Saban, and that will need to continue with DeBoer taking over if the program is going to keep winning at a high level.
Kapilovic has more than 30 years of coaching experience. He got his start as a high school coach in Arizona in 1992 and has continued to work his way up.
In addition to Michigan State, he has also coached at Power 5 programs Colorado and North Carolina. Now he is reportedly set to take over an offensive line in the SEC at Alabama.
While Kapilovic is technically replacing Huff, it was Eric Wolford who was in charge of the Alabama offensive line in 2022 and 2023. When Saban retired, Wolford was hired as the offensive line coach at Kentucky.
Greg Byrne shares the characteristic that has stood out in Kalen DeBoer
Kalen DeBoer has been busy since taking over the Alabama football program last month, with his latest move being to reportedly hire Chris Kapilovic as offensive line coach.
Alabama Athletics Director Greg Byrne has loved what he has seen from DeBoer thus far.
There are plenty of obvious pre-requisites for Byrne when hiring a head coach at Alabama, from on-field coaching acumen to recruiting ability and how a coach runs their program day-to-day. But it’s hard in the interview process to completely judge a quality he has now seen in new football coach Kalen DeBoer: intelligence and deep thinking.
After more than a month on the job, Byrne’s gotten to see the full breadth of what DeBoer brings to the table from his position atop the Alabama football program. Joining “The Game” with Ryan Fowler on WTBC/100.9 FM, Byrne outlined what he’s learned since DeBoer came aboard.
“Coach DeBoer, I can tell already, is really smart,” Byrne said. “He’s very thoughtful. You know, sometimes in today’s world we all want instant answers and responses but in reality, he’s very thoughtful, already I can tell, in how he’s approaching the staff, how he’s approaching just managing the roster and connecting with the kids and I can tell you that that has gone very well. We’re pleased about that.”