$1.45 Million College Football Coach Makes Blunt Admission After Firing

A former college football head coach has made an admission about his decision to take his previous job in the wake of his firing.

UAB Blazers head coach Trent Dilfer on the sidelines during the first half against the Navy Midshipmen | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Chaos reigned supreme during the 2025-2026 college football coaching carousel. From the middle of September all the way into February, 34 different FBS head coaching jobs became vacant.

One of the earlier firings in the last head coaching carousel was UAB head coach Trent Dilfer. The Blazers decided to part ways with Dilfer on Oct. 12, 2025, following a 2-4 start to their season.

Dilfer was a first-round selection in the 1994 NFL draft coming out of Fresno State. He played for five different franchises in his 14-year NFL career, a run highlighted by his Super Bowl XXXV victory with the Baltimore Ravens.

Following the end of his playing career, Dilfer spent just over a decade in broadcasting. The majority of Dilfer's work as an analyst was on the set of "Monday Night Football" at ESPN, but he spent time with NFL Network and FOX Sports as well.

ESPN personality Trent Dilfer before the game between the Houston Texans against the Denver Broncos | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Dilfer's first experience in the coaching world came as a head coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2019. In four years as the Mustangs' head coach, Dilfer posted a 44-10 mark with three TSSAA Division II Class AA state championship appearances, the latter two of which the Mustangs won in 2021 and 2022.

All the success at the high school level enticed Dilfer to try his hand in the collegiate ranks at UAB. That success did not translate in his stint with the Blazers; UAB posted 4-8 and 3-9 marks in 2023 and 2024, its worst since Garrick McGee's 2-10 mark in 2013.

The Blazers had stabilized under Bill Clark following the reinstatement of their football program, and interim Bryant Vincent posted a 7-6 mark the season before they hired Dilfer.

Now that the dust has settled from his departure, Dilfer has admitted that he was unsure if the move to UAB was in his best interest at the time he accepted the vacancy. He made the admission on OutKick's "Hot Mic" on Friday.

Head Coach @LAmustangFB, @DilfersDimes shares the pressure he felt on behalf of high school coaches across the country to take the UAB job.

So many outstanding high school coaches never get the opportunity to move up to the next level, and Dilfer felt like he had to take a swing… pic.twitter.com/6VRN4yxdqz

— OutKick Hot Mic (@OutKickHotMic) February 28, 2026

“I did not want to do it. My wife will tell you this. I was vehemently opposed to it. I got reached out by three institutions during that last season’s run," Dilfer said.

"I felt so guilty that they were reaching out. I wouldn’t even meet with them. Mark Ingram at UAB just kind of waterboarded me to meet with me, and came up to my office at Lipscomb, real secretive meeting during the school day, when the kids were in class. I sent all my coaches away that day so the rumors wouldn’t get out. Nobody knew. We vetted it.”

Dilfer will once again serve as Lipscomb's head coach in 2026. In the two years after Dilfer left, the Mustangs were hit with fines and a two-year postseason ban over recruiting violations. The Mustangs finished their 2025 season at 3-8 overall.