UAB football overheard Alex Mortensen wanting the Blazers' head coaching job three days ago. The American Athletic Conference school has canceled its head coaching search.
Mortensen indeed will lead Blazers football into 2026, that's why.
Pete Nakos of On3/Rivals revealed the job elevation Thursday afternoon on the social media website X, formerly Twitter. Chris Low of the same outlet adds that the school is working on a new deal to lock in the interim head coach moving forward.
The son of the late NFL insider for ESPN Chris Mortensen took over after Trent Dilfer got fired. Dilfer only won nine games across three seasons in Birmingham.
UAB earned massive results under Alex Mortensen
Mortensen immediately won over Blazer fans and the school for some notable 2025 results.
He led UAB to an epic takedown of previous No. 22 ranked Memphis — arriving in Mortensen's interim HC debut. That upset sparked theories that Mortensen would become the longtime replacement.
He then ended the season by knocking off Tulsa, clearly becoming enough to win over the school. The road win over the Golden Hurricane sealed the first away victory in more than two years for the Blazers.
Mortensen adds a new head coach to more than just the university of nearly 21,000 students. He hails from the famed Nick Saban coaching tree.
The 40-year-old served as a grad assistant then analyst at Alabama and delivered two stints there (2014 to 2019, then 2020-2022). Dilfer tabbed Mortensen as the offensive coordinator once he accepted the Blazers' coaching gig in 2023.
He'll now aim to rebuild the roster via the College Football Transfer Portal. Although the Blazers managed to sign eight players via the college football recruiting trail Wednesday including two in-state recruits.
