BATON ROUGE — Charlie Harbison, who spent the past three seasons at Alabama, has been named defensive backs coach at LSU, head coach Nick Saban announced on Friday.
Harbison coached defensive backs for Alabama from 1998-2000. Harbison helped the Crimson Tide to the 1999 Southeastern Conference title and a berth in the Orange Bowl.
“Charlie is a coach with SEC experience and he’s been a strong recruiter in the areas in which we recruit,” Saban said. “Being in a successful program is always a positive and he comes highly recommended by everybody that he’s worked for. We’re excited to have a coach of his caliber join our staff.”
Prior to his stint with the Crimson Tide, Harbison spent three years coaching defensive backs at Clemson, where he helped guide the Tigers to a pair of bowl appearances. Under Harbison’s watch, Clemson led the ACC in pass defense in 1995. Harbison served as defensive backs coach at Texas-El Paso in 1994. Harbison has also coached at the collegiate level at his alma mater, Gardner Webb.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Harbison has also coached in the Arena Football League as well as the World League of American Football. Harbison got his coaching start in 1982 at East Lincoln High School in North Carolina.
“The SEC is a great football league and I’m blessed to be joining Coach Saban and his staff at LSU,” Harbison said. “Coach Saban has reputation of being a great defensive coach and I’m excited about having the opportunity of working with him.”
A native of Shelby, N.C., Harbison is a 1982 business administration graduate from Gardner Webb College, where he was a two-sport star in football and track. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1982 and he also played with the Boston Breakers and the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL.
Harbison is married to the former Gloria Allen and the couple have four children, Charlie, Stedman, Masai, and Meiba.