Report: Mike Stoops Joins Nick Saban's Alabama Coaching Staff in Off-Field Role

Former Arizona head coach and Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops is reportedly joining Nick Saban's Alabama staff in an "off-field position" as an "analyst or consultant," according to George Schroeder of USA Today.

Stoops would become the latest former head coach to join Alabama's program in a support role, joining names like Mike Locksley, Butch Jones and Steve Sarkisian, among others.

As Schroeder noted, Locksley went from being an analyst in 2016 to the team's offensive coordinator and eventually the head coach at Maryland, while Sarkisian was an analyst in 2016 as well before being promoted to offensive coordinator for the National Championship Game that same season. He then spent two years with the Atlanta Falcons as the offensive coordinator and is expected to return to Alabama in the same role.

Saban spoke in December about bringing aboard established coaches in support roles:

"We have coaches who have a track record of being very, very good coaches, very productive, they make some mistake or get in some circumstance of situation that maybe creates this downward plummet but they still have a lot of positive values. We can get them in our program, maybe they learn a better way to do things. But we also can take advantage of the good things they know and they've done."

Stoops, 57, spent eight seasons (2004-11) as Arizona's head coach, leading the team to a 41-50 record and three bowl games. He also served two stints as the defensive coordinator for Oklahoma (1999–2003, 2012-18) and coached in various roles for Iowa (1986-87, 1991) and Kansas State (1992-98) during his career.

He was fired by Oklahoma in October following the team's loss to Texas.

"I have great respect for Mike," Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement at the time, per Tom Fornelli and Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports. "He's a quality football coach and a close friend. It became time for a change in our program and that happens sometimes in football, but we cannot lose sight of the accomplishments Mike had at Oklahoma."