UAB’s Trent Dilfer Goes Nuclear on Assistant Coach After Hare-Brained Penalty

Tensions boiled over in a meltdown for the ages from the Blazers coach.

Trent Dilfer’s transition to the college football ranks in his first year as head coach at UAB hasn’t been the smoothest of sailing. Despite a win over North Carolina A&T in the season opener, the Blazers had dropped three in a row heading into Saturday’s American Athletic Conference matchup at Tulane. 

Unfortunately for Dilfer and Co., the situation didn’t improve on the road in New Orleans. 

UAB raced out to a 20–7 lead in the first half but saw its advantage slowly trickle away throughout the afternoon, and the Blazers eventually lost, 35–23. As the game progressed, tensions seemed to be building on the Blazers’ sideline—until they finally boiled over in the fourth quarter.

With Tulane on offense, facing a fourth-and-2 with 11:58 remaining in the game, UAB was flagged for an illegal substitution on defense, and the penalty gave the Green Wave a first down. Dilfer was furious about the preventable penalty, and he made sure his thoughts were heard.

The Super Bowl XXXV champion immediately stormed down the sideline and lit into an assistant coach, screaming his displeasure about the costly mistake. After briefly walking away, he returned to a different group of assistants and let them have it before finally moving briskly down the sideline in the opposite direction to cool down.

Take a look at the dramatic outburst for yourself:

PHEW Trent Dilfer is HEATED

pic.twitter.com/P5mbRc61YW

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 30, 2023

The meltdown summed up a difficult day for Dilfer and UAB, who fell to 1–4 on the year with the loss. The Blazers head back home where a matchup against South Florida awaits next Saturday.