Tide Tidbits – January 20, 2009

‘We’ve moved on’
He’s the head coach of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and, this week, the head coach of the South team for the Senior Bowl. Yet he stood there in near anonymity at the end of Monday’s practice while a thick, U-shaped huddle of notepads, microphones and cameras waited to engulf somebody else. Such was the appearance – reappearance, perhaps? – of Mike Shula.

Saban shakes off coaching staff losses
University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban shook off recent losses from his coaching staff Monday, addressing the loss of assistants Lance Thompson and Kevin Steele in recent weeks. While Thompson, who accepted an assistant coaching position at Tennessee, and Steele, who is now Clemson’s defensive coordinator, were both highly-decorated recruiters, Saban said he expects the Crimson Tide to continue to be able to lure top prospects. ‘The guy that sells you the car may be not as important as the car itself,’ Saban said. ‘We want to have a Mercedes at our place, and that’s the way it is.’

Senior Bowl Notebook: Jaguars’ Del Rio evaluating everything
Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke with reporters only briefly during Monday’s initial South team workout, saying he expects the Tide’s recruiting to roll right along even without recently departed assistant and ace recruiter Lance Thompson. Then he excused himself from further comment. “I’m here to watch practice and support the players,” he said.

Saban hires Carolina’s Sunseri to coach linebackers
Carolina Panthers defensive line coach Sal Sunseri has accepted an offer to fill one of two vacancies on Alabama’s coaching staff, a source close to the situation told the Press-Register on Monday night. The 49-year-old Sunseri, a former All-American linebacker at Pittsburgh from 1978-81, is expected to coach linebackers for the Crimson Tide and receive a higher title, such as assistant head coach.

Shula speaks
Former University of Alabama head football coach Mike Shula spoke at length Monday for the first time about his dismissal after the 2006 season, saying, ‘We were told to move on, and we’ve moved on.’ Shula, a former Crimson Tide quarterback, was fired after going 6-6 in the regular season of his final year at Alabama. He accepted a position as quarterback coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League, and is coaching that position for the South squad this week at the Senior Bowl.

Ed Marynowitz has joined UA’s football staff
Alabama has made a hire to replace recently departed director of player personnel Tim Davis. Ed Marynowitz, 24, is Alabama’s new director of player personnel. He comes to the Crimson Tide from the Miami Dolphins and Central Florida, where he was a walk-on quarterback before serving as a graduate assistant and later as UCF’s recruiting administrator. Marynowitz served most recently as a scouting assistant for the Dolphins.

Roll Tide!

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