Alabama Football's Al Groh: Don't Be Confused Over a QB Coach Coaching Receivers

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) A lot of Alabama fans never got to know Al Groh in his short first stay, but when he was named the new assistant coach in charge of receivers, many went, Al Groh?

What Alabama fans did know about him is he is the son of Al Groh, who was coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, which was also the place where he played quarterback.

He went on to be an assistant coach there and became the offensive coordinator, and he was fired from that job after a couple of bad seasons.

Virginia may have fired him, but he was still under contract, so with a year of money coming in from Virginia, he could afford to follow a dream and work for Nick Saban for a year. It was a chance for Saban to get both an experienced offensive coach for nothing and get someone on his staff that had volumes of information on Alabama's first opponent, Groh's biggest rival, Virginia Tech.

It was a win-win situation for both coaches.

Still, there were no real openings on the staff. He came as an all but unpaid graduate assistant doing work with the offense, and that meant wherever he was needed and whatever job needed extra attention.

Groh may have come to Alabama to pick up nuggets from what Saban was doing right, but Saban became impressed with the work ethic and recruiting prowess of Groh.

Once the year was over, Groh needed a paying job, and Charlie Strong, who became the new head coach of Louisville, made Groh one of his first picks as a quarterback coach.

Saban understood of course, but told Groh he hoped they could work together again. It wasn't just a parting comment; Nick really meant it.

Strong had two raw quarterbacks who were in desperate need of some coaching.

Groh turned the quarterbacks around as Strong hoped he would. Under Groh's tutelage, touchdown production more than doubled from the year before with fewer mistakes and interceptions.

Therefore, you can understand why both Strong and the Louisville fans hated to see Groh go and to go to Alabama to work with receivers to boot.

But Saban knew that he needed to develop a great group of young receivers. Next year, Hanks and Maze will be gone, and Alabama will only have one receiver with lots of playing time. In his way of thinking, who better to teach receivers than a quarterback who knows what a good receiver is supposed to do?

And it's not like he hasn't coached receivers before; that's how he started out in coaching at Virginia. He did this for three years and developed several good receivers, including Billy McMullen, who became of the top receivers in the entire nation and second all-time in ACC history with 210 receptions.

What Saban said about Groh at the press conference where his hiring was announced was, "We are excited to have Mike join our staff. He did an outstanding job here a year ago and when he left, he was one that I hoped we could bring back to Alabama at some point. He knows the game and what we want to do in terms of philosophy and terminology from an offensive standpoint. He relates well to the players and is also a very good recruiter. We are pleased to have Mike and Elena back with our football program at the University of Alabama."

High praise indeed.

As for Groh, his remarks were, "Having been at The University of Alabama for the 2009 National Championship season, I have a great appreciation for the Alabama football tradition and the first-class manner in which Coach Saban runs his program. The opportunity to join Coach Saban's staff at Alabama is special and I'm excited to be back."

Thought some may question this hire, it is this author's opinion that Groh will develop these players as Saban knows he will and that passing production should improve over last year despite the drop in experience.

Alabama is lucky to have Groh, and the fans will soon realize it.