Inside The Huskies

Chuck Morrell Earns Promotion to Full-Time Alabama Linebackers Coach

The former Husky co-defensive coordinator spent this past season as an analyst for the Crimson Tide.

Dan Raley

Chuck Morrell runs his UW safeties through a spring football drill.
Chuck Morrell runs his UW safeties through a spring football drill. / Skylar Lin Visuals

When Kalen DeBoer left Washington for Alabama almost exactly a year ago, he was set to bring most of his Husky offensive coaches with him, but none of his defensive guys, and probably it wasn't by choice.

No one would say this out loud, but it's possible DeBoer was informed his UW defense was too porous in 2023 and that people in Tuscaloosa would would help him retain some of Nick Saban's coaches and handpick others.

So how did that work out?

On Friday, the Crimson Tide jettisoned co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Colin Hitschler -- the first of maybe multiple changes following a 9-4 season -- and replaced him on the staff with Chuck Morrell, DeBoer's former UW co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, as well as DeBoer's long-time friend and former college teammate.

Morrell, 51, who was an analyst for DeBoer's staff this past season, will coach Alabama's linebackers.

Morrell, who teamed and coached with DeBoer at Sioux Falls and won national championships, was a head coach for eight years at Montana Tech before joining DeBoer's coaching staffs at Fresno State and then the UW.

DeBoer initially brought JaMarcus Shephard and Nick Sheridan with him to Alabama from the UW and installed them as his co-defensive coordinators who also coached receivers and quarterbacks, respectively. He tried to bring Ryan Grubb and Scott Huff with him from Montlake, as well, but both coaches ultimately joined the Seattle Seahawks as the offensive coordinator and the OL coach, respectively.

Of those other former Husky coaches from 2023, all ended up somewhere in various coaching capacities. Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach William Inge coached the Tennessee LBs this past season, defensive-line coach Inoke Breckterfield ended up as the Baylor DL coach, cornerbacks coach Julius Brown turned to TCU as an analyst working with nickelbacks, running-backs coach Lee Marks took a similar position at Memphis and Eric Schmidt went to San Diego State as defensive coordinator before recently getting hired as the North Dakota head coach.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football