Kalen DeBoer kept his offensive coordinator search in house. The expectation is that Nick Sheridan, who joined Alabama’s staff as the tight ends coach, will be promoted to offensive coordinator, according to 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.
Sheridan will take over after Ryan Grubb, who was DeBoer’s offensive coordinator at Washington the last two years, left to join the Seattle Seahawks.
Alabama hasn’t yet announced any of DeBoer’s assistant coaching hires. Scott Huff, who was expected to be the Tide’s offensive line coach, followed Grubb to the Seahawks. How Sheridan’s promotion affects the rest of DeBoer’s staff remains to be seen.
Sheridan, a 35-year-old Michigan native, has coached all over: Western Kentucky (2011-12), South Florida (2013), Tennessee (2014-16), Indiana (2017-21), then Washington the last two years with DeBoer. He took over as Indiana’s offensive coordinator after DeBoer left Indiana for Fresno State following the 2019 season.
Under Sheridan, Washington’s tight ends were used plenty and were productive the last couple of years. Jack Westover was the primary tight end, and he combined for 77 catches for 775 yards and 5 touchdowns over the last two years.
The former walk-on-turned-scholarship quarterback for Michigan also has a history of working with quarterbacks. While at Indiana, he worked with Penix. At Tennessee, he worked with Josh Dobbs. In 2017, he was named one of the top-30 coaches under the age of 30 by 247Sports.
Sheridan was originally Indiana’s quarterbacks coach under Tom Allen until DeBoer was hired as the Hoosiers’ offensive coordinator. DeBoer has traditionally worked with quarterbacks, so Sheridan shifted to tight ends coach, a position he’s coached ever since.
“I think he’d tell you, looking back, it was one of the best things he’s ever done,” Allen recently told Bama247. “He got to learn from Kalen, for one, but coaching a new position broadened his understanding of the offense.”
Allen added: “Him being willing to do that is a good testament to him and his maturity. That was pretty cool.”
Cody Goodwin covers the Alabama Crimson Tide for 247Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
