After Meeting with Alabama, Grubb Stays Put as UW Offensive Coordinator
Ryan Grubb, considered one of college football's top offensive masterminds and continuously pursued by SEC programs, will stay with the University of Washington football program after meeting with Alabama and Nick Saban, multiple news outlets reported on Tuesday.
The Crimson Tide are still seeking a replacement for Bill O'Brien, who left after two years to join the New England Patriots as offensive coordinator.
Grubb, 48, reportedly met with Saban on Monday in Tuscaloosa, this after Texas A&M had targeted the Husky OC near the end of the regular season.
Different sources have indicated that Grubb was offered but turned down the opportunity to join Saban's staff, though there is easy no way to verify that. Had he accepted the position, he would have followed the likes of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and a host of others who previously have guided the Alabama offense.
While it would have surprised no one had Grubb joined Alabama, he recently received a pair of contract extensions, boosting his salary to $2 million at the UW and making him one of the highest-paid assistant coaches nationwide.
Yet Grubb has a long-term relationship with coach Kalen DeBoer, stretching a decade and a half at Sioux Falls, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and now the UW, and it wouldn't have been easy for him to leave that. Chances are, DeBoer encouraged him to take the meeting with Saban and hear it out.
DeBoer and his Husky staff have 14 starters returning from an 11-2 team that has been pegged as Top 10 possibility, plus a serious College Football Playoff hopeful. It would have been difficult to walk away from that, too.
After a trip to the South, Grubb simply comes away having had a chance to meet Saban and feel out his increasing career possibilities, and now resumes his recruiting duties and preparation for UW spring football in April.
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