Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer returned the Crimson Tide to the SEC championship game while clinching a berth in the College Football Playoff last season. Despite Alabama’s rise back to competing for conference and national honors, DeBoer has found himself on the hot seat after demoralizing blowout losses to Georgia and Indiana in those games.
Kalen DeBoer’s Shortcomings Laid Bare
During Friday’s segment of the “Paul Finebaum Show,” On3 analyst Chris Low revealed why there’s enduring skepticism surrounding DeBoer’s continued stay in Tuscaloosa among fans and donors.
“More than anything, it’s their bad losses. You still see some inconsistency,” Low said. “They lose by two TDs to a Florida team that they should not lose to. They lose badly in the playoff to Indiana, they lose badly in the SEC championship game to Georgia. I think those last impressions are what leave bad tastes in fans’ and donors’ minds.
“I don’t think it was a bad year last year, this is a team that certainly has to be better at the line of scrimmage, at running the football if they’re gonna win a championship. Kalen DeBoer would tell you the very thing. If you look at his moves on the staff this year, what he did, who he brought in, they wanna be able to do that.”
Despite the blowout losses in the SEC championship game and the Rose Bowl to the Georgia Bulldogs and the Indiana Hoosiers, respectively, the Crimson Tide finished No. 18 in the PFSN’s CFB Defense Impact Metrics.
Analyst Blasts DeBoer Firing Speculation
During Tuesday’s segment of the “Next Round” podcast, ESPN analyst Marty Smith listed the virtues of DeBoer’s tenure at Alabama and blasted the calls for him to be fired by the Crimson Tide.
“I think that he’s tremendous,” Smith said. “I’m a huge fan of the way that he came into Alabama and didn’t try to be Saban. He came in and immediately injected his own culture. He has won a ton of games and I feel like he’s recruiting at a really high level. To try to run him out the door is completely and utterly ridiculous and asinine.”
Since succeeding Nick Saban in 2024, after an impressive tenure at the helm of the Washington Huskies, DeBoer has been under pressure to live up to the legendary coach’s achievements. Late last year, DeBoer publicly pledged his commitment to the Crimson Tide after being strongly linked with the Penn State Nittany Lions and Michigan Wolverines jobs.
