Alabama Defensive Coordinator Kane Wommack Crammed Like a Final Exam For Meeting With Nick Saban
New Alabama football defensive coordinator Kane Wommack has been around football his entire life. Wommack is the son of Dave Wommack who spent 35 years coaching high level college football, he played college football at Arkansas as Southern Miss, giving him perspective as both a college player and coach.
Despite his adolescent background and 13 years of college coaching experience, Wommack admitted he was nervous for his recent meeting with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
Saban, a defensive genius in his own right, retired from coaching in January, but has committed to helping the new Crimson Tide coaching staff during the period of transition. Part of the help included Wommack presenting his defensive philosophy to Saban as they work to ease the players into a new system.
"It has happened. In fact, our second, in-person meeting happened again this morning," said Wommack to "The Next Round" on Wednesday. "So we're ripping and running through some of the install and some of those things. I was promptly early. I told my wife I was like cramming for a final the night before, making sure all my cutups were ready to go for that meeting. But Coach [Saban] has been awesome. He's been helpful. He's honest. He gives me his real thoughts. I ask him real questions. I want to know this team. I want to know what he envisioned, what he built from a defensive perspective, obviously, and how to take what they've done the last 17 years and how they've evolved over 17 years to the point they are now and how we best need to make that transition from a defensive scheme - there's a ton of carryover in what we do and what Coach Saban has done. You know, my dad was a long-time defensive coordinator in the SEC, Dave Wommack had great defenses, was kind of one of the originators of the 4-2-5 defense. We are a little bit more of a 3-4 Nickel defense. That's really what Coach Saban has been the last few years, where they're able to move in and out of four-down and 3-4. There's a lot of carryover, but I want to make sure that I kind of minimize some of the things that our players are going to have to learn so that I can understand their verbiage as well."
Wommack's defense at South Alabama last season finished 15h in the nation in 2023, allowing 313 yards per game. While the competition was clearly a bit different in the SEC, the Crimson Tide finished 18th in defense giving up 316 yards per game. Wommack will have an extensive team to lean on as Colin Hitschler and Maurice Linguist join the defensive staff with prior coordinator experience. He'll undoubtedly utilize his father's expertise for advice but having Saban looking over his shoulder may be his greatest resource.
