Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer’s tenure in charge of the Crimson Tide after succeeding the legendary Nick Saban in 2024Â has been polarizing, to say the least. After missing out on a place in the College Football Playoff in his debut season, DeBoer’s Crimson Tide clinched a berth in last season’s playoff and reached the SEC championship game.
On the flip side, DeBoer’s Alabama was blown out by the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship game and by the Indiana Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl to finish the season with an 11-4 record and ranked 18th in PFSN’s CFB Defense Impact Metrics.
Kalen DeBoer Gets High Praise Amid Firing Speculation
During Tuesday’s segment of “The Next Round” podcast, ESPN analyst Marty Smith weighed in on the debate around DeBoer’s future in Tuscaloosa.
“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.”
At the height of last year’s maddening coaching carousel, DeBoer was strongly linked with both the Penn State Nittany Lions and Michigan Wolverines jobs, forcing him to publicly deny the links and commit his future to the Crimson Tide.
DeBoer’s Credentials As Nick Saban’s Successor Questioned
DeBoer arrived in Tuscaloosa to much fanfare after leading the Washington Huskies to the national championship game against the Michigan Wolverines in 2023 and compiling an incredible 25-3 record.
Since his appointment, he has been criticized in some corners for being more mild-mannered than the intense Saban, and during an appearance on “The Paul Finebaum show” on Tuesday, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith was skeptical about DeBoer succeeding the seven-time national championship-winning coach.
“I’m not a fan of Kalen DeBoer as a successor to Nick Saban,” Smith said. “I have no problem with him as a football coach. I’m fully aware of what he did at Washington. I’m fully aware of what he did before that. I know the man wins more than he loses.
“But when I think about Nick Saban, the man who I had the pleasure of getting to know, who flew me to Alabama on a couple of occasions to talk to the football team, to watch him in action, to watch what a standard bearer he was, how he lived on accountability. I just think when you follow that up with Kalen DeBoer, something was flagrantly missing.”
Last season, the Crimson Tide lost their season opener to a subpar Florida State Seminoles team before reeling off eight consecutive wins, including four against ranked teams, to jump back into contention for the SEC championship game.
A shock loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in Tuscaloosa undid all the good work as Alabama limped to an SEC championship blowout loss, a stirring win against Oklahoma in Norman, and was on the end of a season-ending demolition job against the Hoosiers.
