UAB HIRES STEVE RUSS AS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - December 13, 2024
Steve Russ, a veteran NFL and college football coach, will be the UAB football defensive coordinator in Trent Dilfer’s third season at the helm of the program.
The 52-year-old Russ comes to UAB after spending last season as a special assistant to the head coach at Air Force. Russ replaces Sione Ta’ufo’ou, who was relieved of his defensive coordinator spot after two seasons. The hire was first reported by Matt Zenitz of 247 Sports.
Russ played linebacker at Air Force, spent four years in the NFL with the Denver Broncos, including a pair of Super Bowl championship seasons, and part of one season in the original XFL. He began his coaching career in 2001 as the outside linebacker coach. He also had college stops at Syracuse, Wake Forest and Air Force. Russ was the defensive coordinator at Syracuse in 2007 and the defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator at Air Force in 2012-17.
According to his Air Force football bio, he turned the Falcons into one of the top defensive teams in the Mountain West Conference in his first season as the lone defensive coordinator in 2014. Air Force improved in all four major categories that season, including a15.8 points per game improvement to 24.2 ppg overall, which led the conference and was 72 spots higher in the national rankings to 33rd. The Falcons also improved in rushing, passing and total defense.
He moved to the NFL in 2018, serving as the Carolina Panthers linebacker coach for two seasons before handling the same role for four seasons with Washington.
Russ takes over a defense that finished 93rd nationally in total defense (393.3 yards per game) and 118th in scoring defense (34.3 points per game) in 2024 and 118th in total defense (435 ypg) and 127th in scoring defense (36.9 ppg) in 2023.
Dilfer said recently that his new defensive coordinator will have a hand in choosing the defensive coaching staff. Dilfer already announced that defensive line coach Miguel Patrick and linebacker coach Kenwick Thompson will not be retained.