Kalen DeBoer is assembling a strong staff at Alabama that has already pulled two defensive assistants from FBS head coaching opportunities.
Sources confirm to FootballScoop that the Tide are set to add a Big Ten coordinator to the staff as well.
Colin Hitschler, the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Wisconsin, is reportedly joining the defensive staff in Tuscaloosa.
Multiple outlets are reporting the same.
Prior to joining the Wisconsin staff, Hitschler worked with Luke Fickell at Cincinnati, where he was voted by his peers as the FootballScoop 2020 Defensive Backs Coach of the Year, alongside his coaching colleague Perry Eliano in the secondary.
That season, the secondary of the Bearcats allowed just seven touchdown passes over the course of 10 games, and went three full games before allowing their first touchdown pass in week four. Perhaps even more impressive, seven different Bearcats had interceptions that season, with six of those seven collecting multiple picks.
Hitschler spent three seasons coaching the safeties in Cincinnati after earning a nod to the on-field staff after initially joining the Bearcats as a quality control coach.
Hitschler has a unique background, starting off as a small college coach and collecting some NFL experience before climbing the ranks each place he's spent more than a year.
At South Alabama, he joined the staff in 2014 as a graduate assistant and earned a promotion to director of football operations role after just one season. Following two years in that role, he moved to an on-field role coaching the safeties.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.