UAB working to hire Alex Mortensen as full-time head coach

UAB is working to finalize a deal to hire Alex Mortensen as its full-time head coach, On3’s Pete Nakos and Chris Low reported. He served as the interim head coach following Trent Dilfer’s departure.

Mortensen took over as UAB’s interim head coach after a 2-4 start to the season. He won his first game, leading the Blazers to a victory over then-No. 22 Memphis. UAB then won its final game of the year, taking down Tulsa.

Mortensen – the son of the late former ESPN NFL insider Chris Mortensen – took over as UAB’s offensive coordinator in 2023 before his elevation to interim head coach. He previously worked as an analyst under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2020-22, his second stint with the Crimson Tide. He was with the program as a graduate assistant from 2014-16 and as an analyst from 2017-19.

In 2019, Mortensen served as the wide receivers coach for the Birmingham Iron in the Alliance of American Football (AAF) prior to his return to Alabama. He played quarterback at Arkansas and Samford during his college career before briefly playing for the Tennessee Titans in 2009. That’s when he got into coaching as the quarterbacks coach at Division II New Mexico Highlands in 2012.

Mortensen was a Broyles Award nominee as the nation’s top assistant coach upon his arrival in 2023. That year, UAB averaged 450 total yards per game in its first season in the then-American Athletic Conference, and the Blazers averaged nearly 30 points once again in its new conference.

UAB’s season-ending victory over Tulsa this year marked the program’s first road victory in more than two years. Alex Mortensen reflected afterward on not only that achievement, but also the emotions of the last few weeks. The program worked through a stabbing incident prior to its game against USF, and multiple players were excused from that game as a result.

“This win will be one that ranks right up there near some of the best wins I’ve been a part of,” Mortensen said on WJOX radio, via AL.com. “Because when you think about what this group went through – I mean, one, let’s talk about the significance of it. No road wins for really two and a half years or whatever it amounts to. … And then after what we’ve been through this past week, we were without about 30 players this week at practice. To think about what it took to go on the road and win this game is a big deal.”