Alabama staffer Tyler Owens hired as Arizona’s strength and conditioning coordinator

Happen to notice how big, fast and strong Alabama looked on Monday night while streamrolling Ohio State in the CFP championship game? Someone who helped make that happen is going to get a chance to do the same with the Arizona Wildcats.

The UA announced Tuesday the hiring of Tyler Owens to be the football program’s strength and conditioning coordinator. He comes to Tucson from Tuscaloosa, where since 2015 he has been an assistant strength coach for a program that has won three of the last six national titles.

A 2015 ‘Bama graduate, Owens was a walk-on linebacker for the Crimson Tide from 2011-14, earning a pair of national championship rings in the process.

Owens’ SEC and national title rings were how UA coach Jedd Fisch hinted at his latest staff addition on Twitter on Monday night:

Owens takes the place of Brian Johnson, who was Kevin Sumlin’s strength coach at both Texas A&M and Arizona. Johnson is now the strength coach at Arkansas State under Butch Jones, the former Tennessee/Cincinnati/Central Michigan coach who was an analyst at Alabama this season.

Arizona’s staff is nearly complete, only missing special teams and recruiting coordinators. Tight ends coach Jordan Paopao coached special teams in 2020 at UNLV, so that could be added to his duties if needed, and the UA could also add a linebackers coach if defensive coordinator Don Brown doesn’t handle that position like he did at Michigan.