There are no bigger shoes to fill in the college football world than Nick Saban’s. The legendary Hall-of-Fame coach is considered by many to be the greatest of all time. In his 16 years as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Saban won 206 games, eight SEC championships, and six national titles.
When Saban retired, Alabama hired Kalen DeBoer, who is attempting to fill Saban’s shoes, and the head coach is now opening up about the pressure that comes with replacing the best coach in college football history.
Kalen DeBoer Opens Up About Replacing Nick Saban
In an interview on the “Coach Mark Gottfried Show,” Kalen DeBoer spoke about how he has handled the pressure of taking over Alabama from Nick Saban.
“There’s only one way to do it, it’s to embrace the tradition, embrace the greatest of those that came before you, and understanding that there’s going to be people to come after you as well here,” DeBoer said.
DeBoer understands that Saban is a legend and praised him for his legacy at Alabama in the interview.
“Coach Saban, there’s no denying what an amazing legacy he’s left here, and what he’s done for this program, how he just improved it in every way possible,” DeBoer said.
While taking over for Saban is a tall task, DeBoer isn’t just any old coach that Alabama found off the street, as he himself has quite an impressive resume.
DeBoer began coaching back in 1997 when he became the wide receiver coach for Sioux Falls. After a brief stint at the high school level, DeBoer returned to Sioux Falls to become their offensive coordinator from 2000 to 2004, before taking over as their head coach until 2009.
In five seasons as head coach for Sioux Falls, DeBoer hardly ever lost, boasting an impressive overall record of 67-3 and winning three Division II national championships.
From there, he moved up to the Division I level, eventually taking over as Fresno State’s head coach (2020-2021) before making the leap to Washington in 2022 (2022-2023). DeBoer led Washington to the national title game in 2023 before leaving to become the next head coach at Alabama for the 2025 season.
Despite his success, the Alabama program finished the 2024 season with a 7-6 record, winning under 10 games for the first time since 2007. This outcome (under an interim coach after Saban’s retirement) has caused some Alabama fans to question whether DeBoer was the right hire, only further increasing the pressure on the new head coach.
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Regardless of what Alabama fans think, it’s clear that DeBoer is comfortable with the pressure that has come from taking over for Nick Saban, and if his overall coaching accomplishments are any indication for how good of a coach he is, I think he’ll right the ship very soon with the Crimson Tide.
