Alabama alum Lance Taylor makes a coaching return to his home state in the Salute to Veterans Bowl

South Alabama will play in Saturday’s IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl in its home state, but the game is also a homecoming for Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor.

The 43-year-old Taylor grew up in the Mobile County community of Mount Vernon and starred at Citronelle High School. The son of 1970s-era Alabama running back James Taylor, he later found success with the Crimson Tide as a walk-on wide receiver and special teams in the early 2000s, then began his coaching career as a graduate assistant on Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide staff in 2007.

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“It’s really special to me,” Taylor said of coaching in his home state. “First of all, a lot of our family and friends don’t make it to Kalamazoo, Mich., to see us play, so for us to come back home and they support and rally around us, the outpouring of love since we became invited and accepted, the invitation has just been phenomenal. We have a lot of people coming to represent the Broncos, which is special.”

Taylor’s Broncos are 6-6 in his second season after improving two games over a 4-8 record in his 2023 debut. Western Michigan beat archrival Eastern Michigan 26-18 in its final regular-season bowl game – qualified for the first time since 2021.

When Taylor takes his team to the field Saturday night in the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, he will do so with an old friend and fellow coach on the other side. South Alabama’s Major Applewhite – whose team is also 6-6 this season – was Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2007 when Taylor was hired as GA.

“I have a lot of respect for what Lance has done up there,” Applewhite said. “Obviously, I know him all the way back from the days at Alabama. … He’s done a great job, in his first year — last year — and then getting his team bowl-eligible year 2. And if you look at their roster, it’s a lot of juniors and seniors. I know the (running) back is an underclassman, but pretty much everyone who starts is a junior or a senior. So that’s a testament to him putting his team together, keeping his team together, and the improvement from year 1 to year 2.”

As with many young coaches throughout the college game, it was Saban who helped get the ball rolling on Taylor’s career. He was back in Tuscaloosa rehabbing an injury sustained playing indoor football when Geoff Collins — Alabama’s director of player personnel at the time — told him Saban had an opening for a graduate assistant.

Taylor got the job, beginning a nearly two-decade coaching career that has also taken him to Appalachian State (2009), Stanford (2014-16), Notre Dame (2019-21) and Louisville (2022), in addition to stints in the NFL with New York Jets (2010-12) and Carolina Panthers (2013, 2017-18). He was Louisville’s offensive coordinator when he was hired at Western Michigan, but said he owes it all to Saban taking a chance on him about 17 years ago.

“It was perfect for me,” Taylor said of his time as an Alabama GA. “Being a first-time coach, you really learn what it takes to be successful. I soaked up every minute of it. I was a young guy, didn’t have a family, didn’t have kids, so every minute I spent in the building I wanted to , because I wanted to be successful as a coach.

“I wanted to know what it took to be great. I also wanted to prove that I could do it. For me at the time, it was the perfect match. It really showed me my calling.”

Applewhite left Alabama to join the staff at Texas (where he had played quarterback from 1998-2001) after the 2007 season, but said he has continued to admire his former colleague from afar. Applewhite returned to Saban’s staff as an analyst in 2019, helping the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 2020 before joining the South Alabama staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the following year.

“(Taylor) carried himself with class, worked hard, was honest — all the good virtues you want,” Applewhite said. “Did what he said he was going to do, worked hard. Was also a good football coach, knows football, all those things. But just more personal qualities than football qualities, was just how he carried himself, just a classy person who worked tough, was honest. I think that’s one of the best things people can say about you.”

Taylor had equally effusive things to say about Applewhite, who took over as South Alabama’s head coach when Kane Wommack left last January to become Alabama’s defensive coordinator. Taylor and Applewhite only worked together briefly, but that time clearly had an impact on the younger coach.

“One, Major is borderline brilliant, the way he sees the game, calls and game planning,” Taylor said. “And for me, I went from player to coach and it was a great first year learning under him. He was great for me because it wasn’t, ‘hey, I need these things done because you’re GA.’ .He really helped me grow and learn what it takes to be a really good coach. We’ve stayed in touch ever since, just being on the floor that first year build it from the ground up. And so Major is a big part of that.

“There’s a lot of what we do in our program now that goes back to the original early days there at Alabama in 2007-08. One, how we’ve modeled the program from watching Coach Saban, but also what we do offensively from being around Major.”

The Salute to Veterans Bowl kicks off at 8:00pm on Saturday with televised coverage on ESPN.