How outside-the-box coach Trent Dilfer plans to win at UAB

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Trent Dilfer stands in his office doorway in late July, a cheerful grin and a firm handshake obscuring the faint redness in the corners of his eyes.

College football's most outside-the-box new hire -- who isn't lacking for name recognition thanks to his time in the NFL and on television but whose actual coaching experience is limited to four years at a small private high school in Tennessee -- doesn't reach for his coffee once as he spends the next hour and a half excitedly laying out his vision for UAB football.

The College Football Playoff graphics dotting the walls around the facility might be too subtle a nod to Dilfer's aspirations. The 51-year-old former quarterback…