UAB reportedly expected to hire interim Alex Mortensen, son of late Hall of Fame reporter, as full-time coach

UAB is expected to remove the interim tag from Alex Mortensen’s title and name him the program’s full-time head coach, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Thursday.

Mortensen, the 40-year-old son of the late Pro Football Hall of Fame reporter Chris Mortensen, took the reins after Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer’s two-plus-season stint as head coach came to an end on Oct. 12. At the time, the Blazers were 2-4 in Dilfer’s third go-around.

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Dilfer went 9-21, including an 0-15 record in road games and 5-14 in American conference competition.

Mortensen, previously the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, delivered a memorable league win over then-undefeated and No. 22 Memphis six days into his run as interim head coach and rounded out the season by conducting a come-from-behind victory on the road versus Tulsa.

In between, he had to navigate the aftermath of a violent pregame incident that took place in a UAB facility. Hours before the Blazers’ Senior Day game against South Florida, 20-year-old offensive lineman Daniel Mincey allegedly stabbed two teammates with a knife on campus, reportedly at the Blazers’ football operations building. Mincey, who is listed as a 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman from Pompano Beach, Florida, has been charged with attempted murder and assault, according to The Associated Press, which cited court records filed in Jefferson County, Alabama, in its Nov. 24 report.

The two injured players, reportedly identified in court documents as defensive linemen Joshua Underwood and JaSire Peterson, were released from the hospital, Mortensen confirmed two days after UAB suffered a 48-18 defeat to USF.

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While the Blazers played against USF to honor their seniors, Mortensen promoted counseling services available for his team and gave players the option to step away from subsequent practice if they deemed necessary.

UAB had 42 total absences when it came back to beat Tulsa 31-24 the following week, per the program’s postgame notes. With that victory, the Blazers finished the 2025 campaign with a 4-8 record.

They were 2-4 with Mortensen as interim head coach. Now he’s poised to lead the program in a full-time role.

Before Dilfer hired Mortensen ahead of the 2023 season, the former Arkansas and Samford quarterback worked at Alabama for nine years under Nick Saban, first as a graduate assistant from 2014 to 2016 and then as an analyst from 2017-19 as well as from 2020-22.

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Mortensen is known for his offensive chops. In his first season as UAB’s OC, the Blazers ranked 51st nationally with 29.9 points per game.

UAB will look to regain the success it sustained under Bill Clark, who resigned in 2022 because of back issues after guiding the Blazers to a 43-20 record in five seasons following the school’s two-year hiatus from the gridiron.