TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Walking up the steps of Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, newly hired assistant coach Joe Pannunzio ran into a group of reporters.
“Glad to see you back,” one reporter said.
Pannunzio smiled before shaking his head and replying, “I’m like a bad cold, you can’t get rid of me.”
Only one part of that statement is true. Serving as Alabama’s special teams coordinator/tight ends coach, Pannunzio is in his second coaching stint with the Crimson Tide. After serving as Alabama’s director of football operations from 2011-14, he spent the past two seasons working as director of personnel operations for the Philadelphia Eagles.
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However, the reason why Alabama can’t “get rid” of Pannunzio is because it doesn’t want to.
“I think his energy and enthusiasm will be really important on special teams and I think he’s a good teacher,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said earlier this spring. “I think it’s going to help some of our young players that probably need to be core special team guys for us.”
While special teams comes first in his title, Pannunzio, 57, takes charge of the tight end unit during practice. With more than a decade of coaching experience under his belt, he’s been a fountain of knowledge for players, providing insight from his time both in college and at the professional level.
“He’s been in the league, he’s been here and he has a lot of connections. And that’s exciting,” Alabama tight end Miller Forristall said. “He’s a great coach and a great person. He told us Day 1, ‘If you ever need anything, you let me know. I’m here for you.’ And that meant a lot.”
Don’t let Pannunzio’s age fool you either. If he isn’t whipping in passes to tight ends during drills, he’s chasing them down to give them one-on-one instruction.
“He’s a great guy. He really enjoys us personally,” Alabama tight end Hale Hentges said. “I feel like I have a great personal relationship with him, too, just the couple months that I’ve worked with him. You can tell all the players around here and all the staff has great respect for him because they knew him before he was a position coach.”
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The fact Pannunzio has already won over his players and fellow coaches says a lot about his personality. After all, he had big shoes to fill taking the position. Pannunzio replaces former Alabama tight ends coach Mario Cristobal, who left to become a co-offensive coordinator at Oregon.
During his time at Alabama, Cristobal not only helped coach future first-round pick O.J. Howard but was also viewed as one of the top recruiters in the nation, helping the Tide secure commitments from five-stars Alex Leatherwood, Elliot Baker and Jerry Jeudy.
While that’s a tough act to follow, Pannunzio hasn’t seemed to miss a beat so far.
“He’s got a wealth of knowledge at the tight end position,” Hentges said. “I mean, we’ve had some phenomenal tight end coaches here during my time. For him to just get here and continue that trend of success has been great. We all really enjoy working for him and working with him.”
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