The last time Alabama’s football program didn’t have Kirby Smart or Jeremy Pruitt as its defensive coordinator, the Crimson Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe and played in the Independence Bowl.
These are much better days in Tuscaloosa, and Tosh Lupoi knows it.
Lupoi is entering his fourth season on Nick Saban’s full-time staff but his first as defensive coordinator. After serving as a defensive analyst in 2014, Lupoi has overseen the outside linebackers since 2015, so he worked under Smart his first two years and Pruitt the last two.
“I’m tremendously blessed to be in this position, and I’m fortunate to have Coach Saban instill the faith in myself and the staff that we have here,” Lupoi said last weekend in a news conference. “I came here to be at the mecca of college football. We’re in an environment here where you get challenged every day. It’s the most competitive environment that there is, I believe, at the college football stage.
“It’s a constant environment of growing and learning, and that’s what I love to do.”