Kalen DeBoer is in his second year and seems to be building a solid foundation after following one of the most decorated head coaches in college football history. In 2024, he finished with a decent 9-4 record. Sure, it might not meet Alabama’s usual expectations, but let’s be real—this isn’t the same Crimson Tide we’ve seen in the past. So, is DeBoer finally getting past the challenges of this big cultural shift?
The Bama HC’s overall record is 113-16. In other words, he’s been there, done that! He entered Div 1 football with 3 NAIA championships but started on a poor note, finishing 3-3. The next year, however, he jumped to 9-3, finishing 2nd in the Mountain West Conference. He kept improving and made it to a National Championship game in 2023 in Washington. Entering Alabama as its new HC was almost like a repeat of this whole cycle. Replacing Nick Saban is far from a cakewalk, and carrying the legacy of the most decorated college football program is another pickle.
Now, however, it might seem that Kalen DeBoer can pull quite the shockers this season. Josh Pate and Cade Cublelic discussed the Alabama HC’s second year in a July 17 episode of the former’s show. “I think he’s excited about his team. I think last year he was excited about a couple of players,” Cubelic said. DeBoer hasn’t really lost any major players to the transfer portal, and he kept all his scholarship players, too. “They kept all their guys which was kind of a theme for Ohio State this past year,” Pate added, drawing in the comparison with the National Championship winners.
“I don’t know of any other person who’s been put in a comparable position in recent history that he was in last year because no one’s ever taken over for Nick Saban in the portal era, in a time on the calendar where the exit doors open… And then you’re also having to, you know, decide, ‘What parts of this building am I going to retain?’… They’re critical parts of Saban’s infrastructure, still there. And then they’re trying to mesh with guys that have coached in the Pacific Northwest, and it’s just kind of a weird dynamic,” Pate added, painting a cohesive picture of the situation that was being given to DeBoer.
DeBoer himself said at a presser recently, “The timing of everything happening in the middle of January last year was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been a part of.” DeBoer was maintaining a roster a little below the standard Nick Saban established in his glory days. The 2024 season, for the first time, showed Kalen DeBoer what it is truly like to coach the Crimson Tide. After a win over Georgia, he succumbed in an upset loss to Vanderbilt. It was all up and down for him, despite having some great players. And his attention had to go to players, because a troubling share of the existing roster moved out of Alabama when Nick Saban retired. That’s how the Alabama career began for Kalen DeBoer.
There is definitely a marked change in the culture of Alabama football under DeBoer, glimpses of which we saw last season. Cade Cubelic pointed out some interesting insights.
Kalen DeBoer establishing a personality shift in the Tide?
Cubelic noted that there was some change in the team’s overall personality compared to that of the Nick Saban era. “Let’s think personality-wise. Malachi Moore at the end of the Vanderbilt game, Jalen Milroe getting in Ryan Williams‘ face after a pick against Oklahoma. I don’t recall a lot of Saban guys doing those things. But to flip that around, when you’re Kalen DeBoer, how much of an iron fist do you want to attempt to rule with that early?” They signalled that a new culture is going to define Alabama football. And now that DeBoer has a full year in, that culture will set in at a faster pace.
“I think there had to be a little bit of operating with kid gloves year one for DeBoer, and he realizes now he doesn’t have to do that because these are guys that want to play for him,” Cubelic added. With just a month and a little over to go for the season, maybe Alabama football will go back to its previous standards. Kalen DeBoer will debut some new elements and an easier schedule in the 2025 season. But the most important thing he returns with is the experience of leading a college football blueblood. Not just any blueblood, but Alabama.
And because of all these elements, DeBoer has an even bigger responsibility. He has the major hurdle of his first year at Tuscaloosa out of the way. Now that he has found some steady ground, there are no excuses for the HC. Can Kalen DeBOer write himself into Alabama’s legacy this season?
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