Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer led the No. 9 Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff for the first time during his first year of tenure. Despite a 28-7 blowout loss to the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship game, DeBoer’s Alabama squeaked into the playoff on Selection Sunday.
During the season, the polarizing DeBoer has been linked to several top jobs that fell vacant during the coaching carousel madness that gripped the sport. After the Penn State Nittany Lions hired Matt Campbell, the rumors about his future in Tuscaloosa seemingly died down until the Michigan Wolverines fired Sherrone Moore on Wednesday.
Analyst Addresses Kalen DeBoer to Michigan Speculation
During Thursday’s segment of the “Mac & Cube” show, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy weighed in on the speculation linking DeBoer to Michigan.
“If he goes, I’d be disappointed, because I don’t think you can get better than him. I really don’t,” McElroy said. “I’d be very disappointed, as an Alabama fan, if he left. It’d be crushing frankly, because I think you’re going down with whoever you bring in next.”
DeBoer has had a mixed season in charge of the Crimson Tide, losing the season opener against a struggling Florida State Seminoles before going on a run that included wins against four ranked opponents in consecutive weeks. In the latter part of the season, Alabama was beaten by Oklahoma at home and barely managed to beat the Auburn Tigers during the Iron Bowl to finish with a 10-3 record.
Paul Finebaum Links DeBoer to Wolverines Job
During Thursday’s segment of the “Paul Finebaum Show,” ESPN analyst Finebaum predicted that DeBoer would be Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel’s No. 1 target for the job.
“It feels like the No. 1 candidate is going to be Kalen DeBoer of the University of Alabama,” Finebaum said. “He has led Alabama to the playoffs in his second year. He was under consideration when he was the head coach at the University of Washington. Remember, Washington played Michigan in Jim Harbaugh’s final game for the national championship.”
In the meantime, DeBoer will have to prepare his team to travel to Norman to face the Crimson Tide’s bogey team, the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners, who have beaten them twice in the past two seasons, in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 20.
According to PFSN’s College Football Playoff Meter, the Crimson Tide has a slim 9.87% chance of making the national championship game on Jan. 20.
