UAB coach Trent Dilfer ripped into at least two of his assistant coaches during Saturday's loss to Tulane. Broadcast cameras caught Dilfer taking one of his assistants to task after the Blazers were called for illegal substitution, giving Tulane -- which had a 28-20 lead at the time -- an automatic first down on fourth-and-2 in its own territory.
The broadcast cut away from Dilfer to show the official announcing the penalty. Dilfer was still going after the coach when the cameras panned back to the sideline as he started to gesture emphatically at another assistant before the broadcast cut back to action on the field.
Tulane was unable to score after UAB gifted it the first down. The Green Wave did take four minutes off the clock, however, and eventually scored a touchdown later in the fourth quarter to secure a 35-23 win.
Video of Dilfer's tirade can be seen below:
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) September 30, 2023
This isn't the first time that Dilfer has made waves due to sideline encounters as a head coach. In 2021, video emerged on social media of Dilfer, then coaching high school at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, grabbing a player by his shoulder pads and pushing him down the sideline while yelling at him. The player threw his helmet in frustration, which caused Dilfer to point at Lipscomb's bench and repeatedly yell "Sit down!" before the video cuts out.
Dilfer later issued a statement explaining the incident:
"During a moment of frustration and in an attempt to get our team to play with more discipline, I unfairly singled Beau out. Somehow Beau Dawson has been portrayed publicly as the culprit in this situation, when in reality I should have been a better leader and shown great wisdom and discernment in how I handled this incident. Overall, I could not be more proud of Beau and the rest of our team for how they handled the emotional nature of each game they compete in."
