Hugh Freeze 'jealous' Nick Saban added Robert Bala to coaching staff

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has hired former Hugh Freeze staffer Robert Bala to his coaching staff as the team’s new inside linebackers coach. Bala, who served as a defensive analyst for Freeze at Liberty this past season, take over for Austin Armstrong.

Freeze, now the head coach at the Crimson Tide’s rival Auburn, said he is jealous that his former coach is going to be game-planning against him.

“I’m jealous that Nick got him,” Freeze said on “McElroy and Cubelic In the Morning” on WJOX. “I typically don’t go outside of my tree too much, but I had him highly recommend to me at Liberty. He was at Southern Utah. He was wanting to break into the FBS level, and I interviewed him, and was absolutely blown away by his knowledge, his demeanor for teaching, and he’s a rising star. The guy was incredibly valuable, a great evaluator and he’s a great human being. He and his wife, Demi, are just super people.”

Bala started his coaching career as the linebackers coach at Snow College from 2009-2010. He then coached at Palomar College from 2011-2016 with one season in the middle spent working on the Oakland Raiders staff as an intern.

He made his Division I coaching debut with Southern Utah in 2019 before moving to Liberty ahead of the 2022 season.

Bala was set to the be the inside linebackers coach for Liberty before Saban came calling — but not before Saban called Freeze to get a rundown on him.

“Obviously Nick and I are friends, and I know it’s hard for a lot of people to believe,” Freeze said. “When Nick called me, I just said, ‘I think he’s really, really good and you ought to interview him.’ Evidently he did. I haven’t talked to Nick since he interviewed him. But evidently he did well.”

Bala was hired after Armstrong left to take the open defensive coordinator position at Florida.

Armstrong had been hired earlier in the offseason after Pete Golding left for Ole Miss. He was previously Southern Miss’ defensive coordinator.