Trent Dilfer may not ever return to Neyland Stadium. He wanted to be sure to capture the moment on camera before he inevitably gets fired as the college football coach at UAB.
I have never seen anything like it.
The 53-year-old was on his phone just seconds before the college football game was set to begin. And then it got extremely ugly in a hurry.
Trent Dilfer is a lame duck head coach.
UAB decided to ignore the pleas of its players at the end of 2022. Bill Clark resigned for health reasons prior to the season. Bryant Vincent won seven games as the interim.
The players wanted Vincent to get the full-time job. The administration told them to kick rocks.
Trent Dilfer was hired as the program’s next head coach just a few days before Vincent won the Bahamas Bowl. He had no prior experience coaching college football— only two years at a small private high school in Tennessee, where he went viral for screaming at one of his players.
Sure enough, his first two years in Birmingham were a disaster. The Blazers won four games in 2023. They finished at 3-9 in 2024. Everybody thought Dilfer was going to be fired.
He wasn’t.
UAB allowed the 53-year-old to return in 2025 even though he consistently failed at every single aspect of his job— winning, recruiting, motivating and even talking to the media. The amount of red flags over the last 32 months that did not get him fired is astonishing.
The latest example took place in Knoxville on Saturday.
Why is he on his phone at kickoff?!
Tennessee closed as a 39.5-point favorite against UAB at home. The Volunteers were expected to dominate the Blazers.
UAB that barely escaped with wins over Akron and Alabama State to begin the season at 2-1 with a loss to Navy. Tennessee should’ve defeated Georgia in overtime last weekend to start 3-0.
It was a beautiful day at Neyland Stadium.
Another great day in Neyland not a cloud in the sky.
— Garrett Armbrust (@4thandsaturday) September 20, 2025
Best theater in the sport. pic.twitter.com/IMlLSM9iVi
Trent Dilfer wanted to capture the moment before the score inevitably went against him. He literally took his iPhone out of his pocket to take pictures on the sideline right before the Blazers were set to kick the ball off to the Vols.
This is the first time I have ever seen a coach on his phone on the sideline, let alone at kickoff.
The optics could not be worse. Dilfer is probably going to be fired and there he was snapping photos on his cellphone just minutes before his team went to battle with the No. 15 team in the country.