By Kerry Dunning

July 26, 2019

When Jeff Purinton left Palatka to attend Florida State, he had little idea that he would witness collegiate football history not once, but twice.

Nick Saban, Bobby Bowden and Jeff Purinton

Purinton, the current executive associate athletic director at the University of Alabama, spent more than 10 years in Tallahassee, first as a student working in sports information, then as a graduate assistant. He was promoted to assistant sports information director in 1999 where he worked primarily with football and baseball.

It was then, in Bobby Bowden’s prime years, that Purinton forged the first of two long time relationships with the game’s greatest. The second, after a year with the Orange Bowl Committee, came when Nick Saban approached him and asked if he’d come to Alabama. He started as the associate athletic director for football communications, and since then has witnessed a second historic collegiate program.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” said Purinton from his office recently. In talking about Bowden and Saban, he’s been in a perfect situation to evaluate what makes top coaches and great football programs. “Other than their leadership style, there are more similarities than people realize.”

He talks about respect from players and others associated with the program. Tells stories about how they work harder than anyone else in the building. And it doesn’t matter if it is support staff or graduate assistants or players or assistant coaches, Bowden and Saban expect the same and have the same work ethic and approach.

“They treat everyone with respect. Everyone matters,” said Purinton. “The players are 18-year-olds when they come to campus, and both coach Saban and coach Bowden genuinely care about them. Not just while they are in the program. They like to watch them in the NFL, but they also spent time with those who come back with their families.”

Purinton says the belief the student-athletes have in both coaches shows up on the field.

“It is a culture that is created. They pass it on class to class to class. The juniors and seniors hold freshman accountable. Each head coach expects it. Both coaches start before they show up on campus. It is the way they relate to athletes and their families during recruiting visits, and how they handle official visits on campus.”

Florida State fans probably remember Bowden’s part, while at West Virginia, in help the Marshall football program after a horrific crash took the lives of most players and coaches. Maybe they remember Saban getting his team involved in the cleanup after a tornado struck Tuscaloosa. Purinton retold the story of the two crossing paths earlier.

“Coach Saban was a graduate assistant at Kent State when his father died (of a sudden heart attack),” said Purinton about a story Saban told after winning the Bobby Bowden Coach of the Year in 2009. Saban’s family was from West Virginia, and his father ran a youth program. “Coach Bowden calls him and says if he needed to come closer to home to help his family, then he’d create a GA position for him (at West Virginia).”

Saban stayed at Kent State but never forgot what Bowden did for him.

Purinton taken to heart lessons from both coaches, making the most of the first open door at FSU. It was Bowden who wrote him a letter of recommendation as he left Florida State, and more recently it was Saban who wrote a letter than allowed Purinton to move to the administration side of sports.

“After four years, I went to coach Saban and told him I was considering moving across the hall,” said Purinton. “He was 100 percent behind it and he genuinely cared about what I wanted to do with my career.”

In his current job, Purinton is the liaison to the Learfield/IMG sports marketing property (Crimson Tide Sports Marketing), as well as the primary point of contact between the University and ESPN/SEC Network. Outside of his main duties on the executive staff for the department of athletics, Purinton oversees Alabama’s external areas including communications, marketing, trademark licensing, Crimson Tide Productions (video/creative) and photography.

While he might say his claim to fame is getting to play golf with Bowden and Saban in fact he has been a part of seven national championships. Purinton also crafted the Heisman Trophy campaigns for Chris Weinke at FSU, and Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry at Alabama.

This year he has been named in a group of nine that are considered up and comers as potential Athletic Directors. The Next Up “Create a Standard” sponsored by College AD.

Greg Byrne, Alabama’s director of athletics, said in a video created for the award, “The qualities that make Jeff Purinton a great leader, he has many. One is how direct and honest he was. Jeff is a person that people like to be around, he is a good communicator and he is trustworthy. “Jeff Purinton is going to become an AD and he is going to be a very successful AD when that time comes,”” Byrne also said.

Many people have wandered the hallways at both universities, been graduate assistants and given jobs in sports information departments. Purinton has been able to make the most of his opportunities.