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 Thame reported Thursday.
Mortensen, the 40-year-old son of the late Pro Football Hall of Fame reporter Chris Mortensen, took over the team after Super Bowl champion quarterback Trent Dilfer’s two-plus seasons as head coach ended on Oct. 12. At the time, the Trail Blazers were 2-4 in third-round games in Dilfer.
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Dilfer achieved a record of 9 wins and 21 losses, including 0 wins and 15 losses in away games and 5 wins and 14 losses in the American Division.
Mortensen, who served as the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, capped the season with a league win over then-undefeated No. 22 Memphis and a come-from-behind win on the road against Tulsa six days into his tenure as interim head coach.
But in the meantime, he had to deal with the fallout from the pregame violence at the UAB facility. Hours before the Blazers’ Senior Day game against South Florida, 20-year-old offensive lineman Daniel Mincey allegedly stabbed two teammates on campus, reportedly at the Blazers’ football operations building. Mincey, a 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman from Pompano Beach, Florida, was charged with attempted murder and assault, the Associated Press reported in a Nov. 24 report, citing court records filed in Jefferson County, Alabama.
Mortensen confirmed two days after UAB’s 48-18 loss to USF that the two injured players, identified in court documents as defensive linemen Joshua Underwood and JaSire Peterson, had been released from the hospital.
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As the Blazers continued to play USF in honor of their seniors, Mortensen provided counseling to his team and gave players the option to opt out of subsequent practices if they deemed necessary.
According to the program’s postgame notes, UAB missed a total of 42 games the following week when it defeated Tulsa 31-24. With this win, the Trail Blazers ended the 2025 season with a 4-8 record.
With Mortensen as interim head coach, they are 2-4. Now he’s ready to lead the project full-time.
