Alabama May Lose OC Ryan Grubb To Seahawks Because Of NIL And Portal

Just when new Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer thought he had everything in place, he may be losing his most prominent and most tenured assistant coach since his days at NAIA Sioux Falls in 2007.

Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, whom DeBoer brought with him from Washington, could become the new offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. This after less than a month on the job at Alabama, and he has been a busy recruiter for the Crimson Tide even in recent days.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban tried unsuccessfully to hire Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb at Alabama after  2022 season. (Getty Images)

New Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, 36, has spent his entire coaching career on the defensive side and is looking for an experienced hand like Grubb, 47, to run the offense.

Macdonald has also targeted two-year New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who was quarterbacks coach with Kansas City from 2018-2021. But the Giants really want Kafka, 36, to stay as they just blocked Seattle from interviewing him, per NFL rule that gives teams that right when a potential lateral coordinator move is on the table.

Seattle Seahawks May Hire New Alabama Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb

Grubb, on the other hand, is fair game for the Seahawks. And DeBoer has only recently stopped the departures from his roster. Shortly after taking the job on Jan. 12, he lost top Alabama sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Bond to a transfer to Texas, All-American freshman safety Caleb Downs to Ohio State and All-SEC freshman offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor to Iowa.

One of the top quarterback signees in the nation in Alabama's 2024 class - Julian Sayin - also left for Ohio State.

Grubb would be as significant of a loss, if not more for DeBoer. In fact, it would be a divorce.   

A rising star in the coaching profession, Grubb and DeBoer, 49, have been married at six stops - Sioux Falls (2007-13), Eastern Michigan (2014-16), Fresno State (2017-18), Fresno State again (2020-21), Washington (2022-23) and Alabama (Jan. 13, 2024 - ?). Grubb was DeBoer's offensive coordinator at Sioux Falls (2010-13), Fresno State (2020-21) and Washington (2022-23).

When DeBoer was Fresno State's offensive coordinator in 2017 and '18, Grubb coordinated the running game and coached the offensive line. The only time he did not follow DeBoer was after the 2018 season when DeBoer took the offensive coordinator job at Indiana. Grubb stayed at Fresno State to replace DeBoer as offensive coordinator. 

New Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer speaks to fans at a Crimson Tide basketball game. (Photo by Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images)

The two are close. Immediately as Alabama hired DeBoer on Friday, Jan. 12, then-Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees knew he was out of a job. Because Grubb was coming in. Funny, former Alabama coach Nick Saban tried to hire Grubb following the 2022 season, but couldn't, and he opted for Rees.

Ryan Grubb Stayed With Kalen DeBoer Over Alabama's Nick Saban

A rising offensive coordinator himself at Notre Dame (2020-22), Rees turned down the LSU OC job when Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU after the 2021 season before landing at Alabama for the 2023 season. Rees recently had to "settle" for the tight ends coaching job with the Cleveland Browns when DeBoer replaced the retiring Saban.

Alabama has not officially announced Grubb nor any of DeBoer's assistant hires yet, but that is expected soon. Four other Washington assistant coaches have followed DeBoer to Alabama - pass game coordinator JaMarcus Shephard, tight ends coach Nick Sheridan, offensive line coach Scott Huff and co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach William Inge. Non-coach Courtney Morgan has also moved to Alabama from Washington as personnel director.

Grubb is, or was, the main grab, though, even though DeBoer is very much an offensive coach. Alabama has or will continue to match or raise whatever Seattle offers Grubb to keep him.

But this will come down to more than money.

First of all, the city of Seattle … or Tuscaloosa? That's a no-brainer for Grubb and his wife Stephanie, who have a young daughter. Seattle.

Ryan Grubb May Decide NFL Is More Family Friendly Than College Football

But it's more than where they live. It's about how they live.

What it could boil down to for the Grubbs is not wanting to have to deal with the never-ending job that is college football coach in the Name, Image & Likeness, NCAA Transfer Portal world that organization and rules forgot.

"The Party Never Ends," sings Robert Earl Keen.

Well, in college football since NIL and the portal opened in 2021, "The Job Never Ends." And it does in the NFL, which is much more organized and has more common sense. There is a clear, short window to free agency - from March 13 through April 19 of this year for restricted free agent signings in the NFL. Players have long-term contracts, so NFL owners, general managers and coaches do not have to worry about every single roster member 24/7 as in college.

In the college game now, players are under no contracts and talk to other coaches or boosters about going to another school at any time. Every player could have entered the portal for a transfer from last Dec. 4 through last Jan. 2 and again this April 16-30. So, college coaches are constantly re-recruiting the players they spent years recruiting in the first place for signing days in December and February. The next one is Wednesday.

The portal is too easy for immature players to enter and exit without much thought, and it is too unorganized. Yes, players deserve to be paid via NIL, but that is extremely poorly organized as well and out of control because the portal is virtually always open.

For a coach raising a family, or for a coach not raising a family who just wants to date someone, the NFL is the place to be now more than ever. Used to be, it was the more difficult job because there were more games - 16 and now 17 to 12 in college and maybe a couple more. The NFL still has more games and will continue that way, but the overall schedule is much more manageable in the NFL than in college.

With NIL and the portal, some coaches feel they do not get to actually coach as much as they would like to as well.

"You're also the general manager, and you're trying to manage the cap, and you don't really know what the cap is in your fund raising," Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley said in an interview shortly before leaving BC to become the Green Bay Packers' defensive coordinator last week. "I mean, I want to coach football."

If Grubb does leave Alabama for Seattle, freeing himself from NIL and the portal may be a major reason why.

Lane Kiffin Couldn't Keep His Own Brother From An NFL Job

There have been other coaches who felt the same way as HAfley.

Chris Kiffin, who is married with four kids, left a job under his own brother Lane at Ole Miss in February of 2022 after less than a month. He returned to his old job as defensive line coach with the NFL Cleveland Browns.

"My decision centered on the NFL's work schedule being more conducive to raising a family," he said after deciding to leave Lane and the Rebels to return to Cleveland.

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin's younger brother Chris said an NFL job was more family-oriented when he left Ole Miss for an NFL job. (Getty Images)

And the town of Oxford … or Cleveland? That's a no-brainer. Oxford.  But Kiffin stayed with the Browns through 2022 before taking the linebackers coaching job in 2023 at Houston, where he remains in his third NFL job in seven years.

Lane Kiffin also lost special teams coach Jeremy Springer after just a few weeks in February of 2022. Springer had just left Marshall for Ole Miss, but then the Los Angeles Rams came calling with the same job. And he was out of there. After two seasons in L.A., he recently became New England's special teams coordinator. He's not going back to college.

And don't feel too sorry for Rees as a tight ends coach in Cleveland. He'll probably like that better, too, without NIL and the Portal of Hell and probably will not be going back to college either.

If Ryan Grubb makes the move, you likely won't see him back in college, unless - like the above examples - he gets a head coaching job or a nice assistant gig. Should DeBoer lose Grubb, he will likely promote either Sheridan, 35, from tight ends coach or Shephard, 40, from wide receivers coach/pass game coordinator. Both are rising stars. 

And DeBoer may not have to make the tough decision of one or the other. Because one may join Grubb at Seattle, unless both do. Then, he'll be in a pickle once again.

The NFL is the place to be, now more than ever, thanks to the double whammy scourge of college football that is NIL and the Portal.

Agree? Disagree? Something to add? Please send me your comments via email at glenn.guilbeau@outkick.com or on X @SportBeatTweet.