Report: Alabama Hires Joe Pannunzio As Tight Ends/Special Teams Coach


Alabama has hired Joe Pannunzio has its tight ends and special teams coach. He currently worked with the Crimson Tide as director of football operations.


Joe Pannunzio has been hired as the new tight ends and special teams coach at Alabama, returning to coaching for the first time since 2010, per Matt Zenitz.

This will be Pannunzio’s second stint on Nick Saban’s staff in Tuscaloosa, as he served as the director of football operations for the Crimson Tide from 2011-14 before joining the Philadelphia Eagles as their Director of Personnel Operations, a job he held the past two years.

Prior to working on the administrative side of the game, Pannunzio made his name as a tight end and special teams coach, with stops at TCU, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Auburn, and Miami (FL). From 2000-05, he served as the head coach at Murray State, running up a record of 30-37 and winning the Ohio Valley Conference in 2002.

His tenure with the Racers did not end well, as Pannunzio was placed on administrative leave for some time before his final season, later being fired by then-university president F. King Alexander “because of numerous incidents that occurred in our program under him that were quite bad.”

Pannunzio will join an Alabama staff that has seen a lot of turnover since the end of the 2016 season, with four assistants/analysts leaving for other positions and the director of football operations resigning from his role.

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